Souls, Swords and Strife
by Link-luvr
Summary: Siegfried stands guarding Soul Edge, when an unusual individual appears and requests his help Please r&r.COMPLETED (Yes, I know Sheik is Zelda)Soul CaliburZelda Crossover
1. Siegfried

Souls, Swords and Strife

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters, apart from Liam. He's mine, all mine. The others are from games that have already been created; I'm just borrowing them for a bit like everybody else does. Characters belong to Namco and Nintendo and Capcom.

A.N. With thanks to my friend Rosie, who proofread and corrected this story for me. **This has been re-written due to some mistakes on my part. Readers from the 1st chapter will find some answers at the end of the second chapter!!!!!**

Chapter 1: Siegfried

_What a Chimera, then, is man! What a novelty! What a monster. What a chaos, what a contradiction what a prodigy! – Blaise Pascal, Pensees_

A half demolished chapel in Germany stood on top of a hill, over looking a village. It was large but half the floor had fallen away, as had most of the roof. On one side of the chapel the stained glass windows remained intact but opposite, they were almost completely shattered as was the wall to the left of them. The reason for this destruction was clashes between Soul Edge and Soul Calibur, two powerful swords one good, one evil.

Now both swords were silent, still in their masters hands.

Night had fallen around now and a dark figure stood in the chapel. He was of a slightly under average height, and well built. Moonlight shone through the window behind him, casting a dark shadow on the floor. His long blonde hair waved around, brushing his waist. He stood, armour over his green trousers, he wore no top but he felt no cold as the wind blew around him, his right hand clutched a huge sword that rested on his shoulder, while his other hand held onto his left hip. His cold blue eyes watched the moon pass over head and he turned around to face the window behind him.

The moon and stars light shone onto his bare upper body and his face, highlighting every line and crevice on his body, showing the tensed muscles in his stomach and chest. He slowly turned his head to the left, showing the scar through his right eye and cheek as he closed his eyes slowly, and then shook his head.

"_Will I ever be normal again,?"_ he thought "_Will I ever be accepted back into society, will I be able to sleep without giving into this sword and not wake up with bodies around me"_

He opened his eyes again and returned to looking at the stars.

"_Can I ever escape the guilt over my father's death...? Will I ever be Siegfried again and not Nightmare?_".

These thoughts tormented his mind night after night and all he wanted was some peace.

"_No,"_ he shook his head, "_How can I after what I've done, and perhaps I deserve this torment, this torture."_

He heard a sound behind him, and slowly turned his head right and glanced through the corner of his eye to see a young man standing behind him. He was the same height as Nightmare or Siegfried, which ever he was now. This young man had blonde hair, a bright, golden blonde and deep blue eyes, he had strange long pointed ears and wore strange clothes.

Nightmare turned his head back to the window.

"Are you Nightmare?" the boy asked, he had a soft almost musical voice.

"Yes," Nightmare responded "What do you want?" His low, growling voice was quiet, but held a strong note of annoyance and hostility.

The boy let out a noise that sounded like 'this is Nightmare?'

"You're not what I was expecting, to say the least," he stated. Nightmare turned around and looked at the boy, noting the look of surprise and disappointment on his face.

"And what were you expecting?" Nightmare asked

"Some of the villagers said there was a sort of humanoid monster up here called Nightmare, they said he was about an average height and well built almost stocky, but he wore dark blue armour, and had a huge mutated brown arm and brown skin and red eyes."

Nightmare nodded and shuddered

"That was me, before I returned to normal, before I regained my sanity, but why are you here?"

"They said that this Nightmare had been shouting a lot when he first got here, it sounded like he was in pain they said, when the chapel fell silent they wondered what had happened, but were too afraid to come up here, when I said I was a warrior they sent me up here to check you out."

"Humph" was all Nightmare could get out "So they were hoping I was dead...well, you can tell them that I'm not and I'm planning not to die anytime soon."

"What do you do up here all day?" asked the boy

"I torment myself," was his reply

"Why?"

"It's a long story."

"Well, it's lucky I've got a lot of free time on my hands then isn't it?"

"You're offering to keep me company?" he asked with noticeable surprise

"If you want me to, besides, you look like you could use some company and someone to talk to."

"You'll listen?"

"I'm all ears, you may have noticed." the boy chuckled lightly flashed a brilliant smile

"But first... I think we should introduce ourselves, after all you're real name can't be Nightmare can it?"

"I suppose not."

"So, I'm Link, Link Herro, and before you ask about the ears, I'm from Hyrule, in another world, I'm a Hylian, and I'm also the hero of time and a knight," he stated

"Impressive, especially for such a young lad."

"I'm 17; I wouldn't consider myself that young."

"My real name, if you're interested is Siegfried, Siegfried Schtauffen."

"Siegfried?"

"Yes, its German it means Victory – Peace."

"Well, are you going to tell me your story or not?"

"It started seven years ago, when I was 16," he started "I was a mercenary and a leader of a group of brigands now as the Schwartz- wind, Black –wind, my father had been murdered and I was looking for a sword called Soul Edge, it was said to be the most powerful weapon in existence, I thought I could use it to slay my fathers murderer." He looked at Link and shook his head, Link sat on the floor watching Nightmare, never taking his eyes of him for a second. Nightmare turned around to look out the window again and continued with his story.

"One day I came upon a shore and found a corpse with a large sword much like the size of the sword I'm holding now, by the side of it, I knelt down to get a closer look at the sword but as I did flames rose around both the sword and the corpse as if to protect them both, I defeated the corpse and walked over to the sword that had fallen on the floor."

He sighed deeply.

"As a stood over the sword it, well, spoke to me." He looked at Link, who had arched an eyebrow at the odd statement.

"It spoke to you?"

"Yes, I don't mean it actually opened a mouth and spoke I mean I heard its voice in my head, it told me that if I took hold of it and fed it the souls of people, then I could resurrect my father, I didn't realise that the sword was Soul Edge."

"So you found it," Link stated, "What happened when you took hold of the hilt?"

"As soon as I took hold of the hilt the sword took over my mind and body, and I became known as Nightmare, apparently I went on to strike fear into every corner of Europe."

Nightmare, or more accurately, Siegfried turned back to the window. He cleared his throat and continued

"For three years I killed people constantly, to feed Soul Edge with the people's souls. Then a warrior came wielding a sword called Soul Calibur, it had energy completely opposite to Soul Edge's evil. Soul Edge couldn't contend with this power and I fell into a void where I was imprisoned." Through out the story Siegfried's voice had been a dull monotone, completely emotionless. Link could see part of his face and could see he was staring forward intently; he had kept his face completely blank and expressionless.

"So what happened to you and Soul Edge?"

"Well somehow I survived and regained some of my sanity, but of course the memory of all the sins I had committed came back to me, along with the realisation that it was me who had murdered my father." Siegfried lowered his head and eyes, looking down at the floor; he sighed and looked back up at the window. To his left Link was sitting on the floor a slightly confused look on his face.

"So...let me get this straight, you murdered your own father but didn't realise it, then lost your sanity, went on a mass killing spree for three years, were defeated by a warrior with a sword called Soul Calibur fell into a void with Soul Edge, regained your sanity and realised you had murdered your father?" Link asked

"Yup, that's right."

"So... is that it or what?"

"No, that's not all... I escaped from the void and tried to make amends, but at night I would try to be as far away from other humans as possible, however every morning I would find the bodies of people around me when I woke up and I reasoned it out that Soul Edge took over my body while I slept...

After four years I was completely Nightmare again, taken over totally by the sword, I started killing again to feed Soul Edge, this time however, Soul Edge was trying to restore it's full power, it took on a quest to find every last piece of itself to make itself fully restored, I killed and fought. I continued to travel when strong warriors started to confront me, there were seven extremely strong warriors, stronger than all the ones I had faced before, one by one I defeated six of them, the seventh was a man named Raphael. Some people call the battle with the final warrior 'the destined battle'. I was told that this was because, usually, that you fight someone whom you know for a certain reason."

"And these reasons would be?"

"Well... for example, I had a golem named Astaroth under me; one of my strongest warriors, his destined battle was with a Japanese pirate named Maxi, whose crew Astaroth had slaughtered years ago.

I don't know why I fought Raphael, perhaps because I was the wielder of Soul Edge and he wanted it..."

"I see."

"I beat Raphael, without much difficulty, and I went onto fight the creature known as Inferno but after I finally defeated it... my sanity returned, my soul suddenly awakened and I resisted the evil. I brought the sword here; you see that large pit where the floor has collapsed?"

"Yes," Link replied, peering over the edge

"I threw Soul Edge down there to stop anyone else from getting it, if they do they'll be taken over by it too, I can't let that happen."

"Why do you guard it when it's been thrown down there?"

"It's my way of trying to make amends for the sins I committed," Siegfried answered bluntly

"But what about you're story,?" he then asked

"Mine doesn't matter that much, but that last thing you said caught my interest especially," Link murmured

"Why?" Siegfried asked suspiciously

"Let me give you the basics, I come from Hyrule, right."

"Fine, but what's that go to do with anything."

"It's got everything to do with why I'm here... When I was ten years old I lived in a forest, with a race known as the Kokiri who are immortal; they're children who don't age, I believed I was one of them, I was however an outcast in the village for reasons that I won't go into," Link paused and swallowed then continued with his story "I was chosen to go and see the Deku tree, the guardian of the forest, I got to him but he had been cursed and he wanted me to break the curse... I did successfully, but the Deku tree died anyway, so I was told to go to Hyrule castle and talk to the princess so I went off, a series of events followed and I became the Hero of Time, and I saved Hyrule from Ganondorf, an evil sorcerer who wanted to control Hyrule."

"However," Link continued, as he sat on the floor, but he paused when Siegfried walked over to him, he slid onto the floor and sat in front of Link.

"However," Link said again "Ganondorf has returned to Hyrule, he's trained his people, the Gerudos' to fight again and once more he's trying to take over Hyrule and it's my job to stop him. My king has prepared his armies as quickly as possible, but the time of war is coming closer everyday. Ganondorf is too strong, so I have to stop him before he starts the war, but he has four main companions in league with him now... and they're from this world."

"So you need help, who are these people, do you know?" asked Siegfried

"I don't know their names but I can describe them and they're all weird."

"Go on, I might know them."

"Firstly there's a strange mutated humanoid looking thing, it has green scaly skin, red eyes, fangs and spikes protruding from various areas of its body, it's also quite muscular and very tall about six foot five, know him?"

"I think I've fought him before, I think it's Necrid, if these people are from this world then it's entirely possible that this person is Necrid, what about the others?"

"The second one is not even human, it looks bit like a brown skeleton, but it has a giant reddish eye in what would be its ribcage."

Siegfried nodded but gave no answer

"The next one has grey skin, he has red eyes and a beard and judging from the clothes he wears he's a pirate and the last one is tall about six foot five or four, he's very strong and carries a huge axe and somehow his skin changes colour. Whenever he came to the castle he has had different coloured skin, he's been purple, brown and white, and for some reason he sticks nails in himself, it really freaked the princess last time.... Do you know who they are?"

"Yes... the second one is charade, I didn't even know he was in his humanoid form... the third is Cervantes and the last is Astaroth."

"Didn't you say that Astaroth worked under you and he killed that pirate's crew?" Link asked

"I did, yes," Siegfried responded

Link stood up and walked over to the shattered window frames and put his hands behind his back and looked down at the village below.

"So what now?" asked Siegfried

"Now...... I need to find somebody in this world who can help me defeat them."

"But why did you say earlier that when I was saying about trying to redeem myself catch your interest?"

Link turned around and looked at Siegfried who was getting up off the floor. Link smiled to himself and looked out the window again and answered.

"It caught my interest because... well to tell the truth, I was wondering if I could persuade you to join me to... redeem yourself."

"And why would you want me?" Siegfried asked again

"Because you have knowledge of these people and you're a warrior, a strong warrior, that's what I'm looking for."

"And do I have to join you?"

"No you don't have to; you can if you want to."

"When are you leaving here?"

"Tomorrow, around midday, I'll be sleeping just outside the chapel, I'll be getting ready to go at ten, and I'll have some breakfast, saddle up my horse and move on... I've been travelling for a week and you're the first person to match what I'm looking for," Link finished with a sigh and walked out of the chapel to a little hollow outside, slumped down in it pulled out a blanket to cover himself with and fell asleep.

Up in the chapel Siegfried was standing looking at the moon, debating whether he should travel with Link and help him ... or not.

Link woke up at eleven o'clock, he stretched and yawned. He quickly looked at the sun and shadows, trying to determine what time it was.

"It must be at least eleven o'clock, this is great, my country is in danger and I'm over sleeping, brilliant absolutely brilliant Linkie-boy," Link muttered to himself.

"Do you always talk to yourself Link?" said a harsh voice behind him

Link turned around to see Siegfried standing behind him, sword on his shoulder again.

"No, just when I'm annoyed with myself... wait, what are you doing here?"

"I've decided to join you, it gets lonely up there, plus no-one's gonna go down that chasm and live to talk about it that... and I need an adventure, I'm bored of this place."

Link smiled and stood up

"Great, glad to know that this journey hasn't been a complete waste of time." he brushed the grass off his clothes and picked up the blanket and shoved it into Epona's saddle bag.

"Let's go," Link commented as he took Epona's reins and started to lead her down the hill, with Siegfried following. After about ten minutes they reached the bottom and walked through the village, garnering strange looks from the villagers, the only villager who spoke English ran up to them and spoke to Link quietly, asking who the strange man with him was, Link gave no answer in the form of a name and muttered 'Well let's just say you don't need to worry about Nightmare anymore'. The man shrugged his shoulders and handed Link some food wrapped up in a cloth. Link thanked him, putting the food away quickly and continued towards the exit of the village. All the villagers who hadn't seen Link before gathered on the sides of the street, staring at the two men, muttering among themselves. Link and Siegfried merely ignored them and left the village, they walked for about half an hour until they came to a small wood which they stopped in to talk.

"So what now, Link?" Siegfried asked again

"Do you ever stop asking questions?"

"No."

"Fine, now... we need to see if we can pick up anyone else... who do you recommend?"

"If you want people to fight, they'll need motivation and you'll need to know they're good warriors... the closet one that I know is Raphael."

"Would he be willing to fight?"

"Possibly, it depends what is in it for him, but he has a foster daughter and might not be easily motivated to leave her."

"Hmmm... that could be a problem," Link mused

"Then again... Raphael will do anything to protect his daughter, like I said it depends on what's going on at the moment... I suggest that we try to find him and find out what's happening with him," Siegfried suggested

"Fair enough, but where will he be?"

"Most likely not near Rouen, probably in mid or east France, which will mean we haven't got too far to travel, we're only a few miles away from the border of Germany, we could easily make it into France by night."

"Well there's no harm in trying."

They set off again, walking quickly with Siegfried in the lead, neither of them spoke, they walked in silence thinking about their own problems after about two hours of walking they stopped and rested.

"How far away would you say France is now?" Link asked, while taking an apple off a nearby tree

"About two maybe three miles, I suggest we head for Boulay, one of the closest to the border, it's not tiny seen as it's on the maps but Raphael is unlikely to be in any smaller place"

"Right, well it probably won't take us long to get there but I'd rather not wait around," Link said quickly, he took another apple off the tree and threw it to Siegfried, then started to eat his own apple. They started walking again it took them about three quarters of an hour to reach the border.

"I think we may be here," Link said looking at a sign to his right, what it said though he couldn't tell

"Yep let's go."

------------------------------------------

Chapters will be updated every week, usually on a Monday.

P.S: Wesker, Leon, Maxi, Yunsung, Link and Siegfried rule!!


	2. Raphael

Chapter 2: Raphael

_A vice begins by choice. But thorough such things as heredity, intelligence, and mental exhaustion this choice become inexplicable, or is refined into something criminal - Jean Cocteau, Opium: Journal d'une desintoxication_

It was about 2 o'clock when they reached the first village; they had spent about five minutes walking through fields of animals. It was a small, dirty, dusty, lifeless village. The people wandered around aimlessly and utterly disenchanted.

"I've never seen people look as depressed as this, what in the name of the goddesses has happened here to make them so disenchanted?" Link asked quietly to Siegfried

"France is in total chaos, the country is fighting over religion. Plus the Nobles have quarreled constantly and only have thought of their petty interests and self-preservation...the commoners, tired of constant warring, have given up hope. The world is filled with people whose soulless, meaningless lives make them no better than the dead. There is no hope for them and they'll likely die soon."

"Well that's got me depressed now," Link commented

They continued on, just as they were turning a corner of an alley after seeing the way ahead was blocked with debris, they saw a blue streak run across the way ahead. It came back and turned down the alley Link and Siegfried were walking down.

Siegfried narrowed his eyes, and a slight smirk crept onto his face as he recognized the figure in front of him. The man walking down the alley was of a fairly average height; he was slim and had blonde hair that reached halfway down his neck. He wore navy blue trousers, boots, gloves and jacket with a black turtle neck type shirt and red waistcoat underneath. He staggered down the alley, in his left hand was a long single edged sword, a rapier to be precise and his right arm was curled around a bundle lying against him.

The man looked uncertainly behind him, not noticing Siegfried and Link in front of him. Link looked over to Siegfried and saw the smirk he was wearing on his face.

"I take it you know him," Link muttered to Siegfried

Siegfried nodded "This... is Raphael," he murmured

Link looked back to the man who was now drawing ever closer. Siegfried cleared his throat and Raphael's head shot up; he took a small step back as he saw the two blondes standing in front of him.

"Who are you, what do you want?" he growled

Siegfried's smirk grew even more.

"I'm not surprised you don't recognize me" he answered

"What?"

"You've fought me before you should remember that at least," Siegfried then brought the Zweihander (two hander for anyone who doesn't know any German) forward and folded his arms on the top of the crossbar and leant forwards, the Zweihander was about 5 foot 6 long altogether, the same height as Siegfried himself, the blade was about 4'6 in length, it was also fairly wide and thick and incredibly heavy, it was a wonder he could hold it up. This particular zweihander was named Requiem.

Raphael stepped back and his eyes widened as he began to realize who was standing before him. He narrowed his eyes

"Nightmare?" he said quietly, his voice questioning

Siegfried nodded silently. Raphael shook his head in disbelief. Link was leaned up against a wall watching the two men with interest.

The two sat down on some nearby crates and talked quietly in a business like manner, apparently there was no friendship between them, just knowledge of each other. Siegfried gave Raphael a very terse account of how he had returned to normal and regained his sanity.

Raphael looked over to Link and flinched his head towards him.

"And why is the boy with you?" Raphael questioned

"Ask him yourself," was Siegfried's response "Link, come here!" he shouted

Link, who had previously been daydreaming about Princess Zelda, snapped out of his reverie and walked over to the two grown men.

"What?" Link asked, he snapped a little bit, he was quite annoyed at them interrupting his thoughts. Siegfried looked at Link and answered him.

"Are you going to tell Raphael why you're here or not... I've explained to him about you coming from Hyrule."

Link nodded and sat down on a crate opposite Raphael; he eyed him cautiously for a moment and saw the bundle Raphael had in his right arm move slightly. Raphael saw this and unwrapped some of the blankets from the bundle, the bundle turned out to be a young girl about ten years old, she had reddish brown hair tied back into a French plait but her eyes were closed and most of her face was hidden in shadows. The skin that Link could see on her face was extremely pale, almost completely white, and she looked tired and subdued and extremely ill.

"She's my foster daughter, but as you can see she's ill, I need to find a doctor to help her, my mansion was burnt down so I'm desperate to find help for her," Raphael explained "But why are you here?"

Link cleared his throat. "I come from Hyrule as you've already been told, but Hyrule is in trouble. A sorcerer named Ganondorf is trying to take control of our world again. I defeated him before but he's striking back now, harder than he did before. He's trained his armies again and has five allies from this world; Siegfried," he motioned his head towards him "has identified them as Cervantes, Astaroth, Charade, and Necrid. I've come to this world to find warriors who are strong enough to help me stop them."

"And you want me to help," Raphael questioned him, not without disgust "and what makes you think I'd help you, what's in it for me... why is Nightmare helping you?"

"Nightmare is helping me to... redeem himself... as for what's in it for you." Link paused

"Yes," Raphael asked

"You love your daughter and you want to get a doctor for her, but you have no money, right."

"Yes, what are you getting at?"

"If you help me overthrow Ganondorf... I can get help for your daughter in Hyrule, free of charge... I live in Hyrule castle with the king; he'll do anything to protect his country and daughter so he'll definitely help you, if you help me."

"That sounds like a bribe to be honest."

"It's not a bribe it's a proposition, a deal... I scratch your back, you scratch mine," Link clarified

Raphael looked down at his daughter

"You'll get Amy a decent doctor if I help you?"

"The top doctors in Hyrule, the king's royal physicians," Link promised

"Alright, we have a deal" Raphael announced and stood up and offered his hand towards Link to seal the deal. Link shook Raphael's hand and turned to Siegfried.

"Any other ideas of where to find someone who'll help us," Link asked him

"Yes... Japan, but it would take us a few months to get there and you haven't got that time,"

Link gave a small grin

"We can take a shortcut through Hyrule, take Amy up to the castle along the way, and go to Japan."

"How are we going to get to Hyrule though, it's good distance away by the sounds of it," Raphael stated.

Link reached down to his belt and pulled out the Ocarina of Time

"Wow... a blue ocarina, that's going to do us a lot of good," Raphael smirked, sarcastically.

Link turned around mounted Epona, Raphael and Siegfried followed, standing by the sides of the horse. Link played the Prelude of Light and touched each of them on the shoulder. They all disappeared in a small swirl of light.

Raphael and Siegfried were extremely disorientated when they arrive in Hyrule. They both sat on the floor, looking around in amazement. What had been a small dark, dirty alley a few seconds ago was now a temple with sunlight streaming through the windows. They were sitting on a large pad with a triangle split into three on it and a circle under it with patterns on it. They looked behind them to see an alter with three beautiful stones set on it.

The first, on the left was an Emerald with a gold swirl like a 'G' with a tail around it, the second, in the middle was a Ruby with a gold 'V' around it, the third, on the right was a Sapphire, with a gold 'T' shape with crescent moons on the ends, the Sapphires (three of them) were set on top and underneath the arms of the 'T'. The sunlight shone onto these making them shimmer.

Link smiled to himself at being back in his home country.

"Welcome to Hyrule," he said to the two Europeans sitting on the floor. "Come on, we better get out of here and up to the castle." he dismounted Epona who was standing in the temple with them. He took her reins and began to walk towards the door, Siegfried and Raphael got up quickly and followed Link to the door.

Outside there was no hint that evil was trying to take over Hyrule. The sky was a clear bright blue, with no clouds to be seen anywhere, birds sang softly in the distance, trees were covered in pink blossoms and bright green leaves and the two pools of water to either side of them were clear and deep. In the distance the sounds of music and people could be heard. Link walked along the grass path leading Epona down the steps and the two humans walked behind Link, amazed by the beauty of Hyrule. They walked into the town where people were going about their usual business. Shoppers haggled with merchants for lower prices, children ran around the town shrieking with joy and others just sat relaxing on the edges of the fountain and benches that were dotted around. However, precautions had been taken because there were guards posted at the entrance to the castle, four on the path that lead out and two at each alley entrance. Link, Siegfried and Raphael began to walk to the castle; they walked up the path without any event and in silence and passed through the gate to the castle and it was suddenly there, Link stopped for Raphael and Siegfried who were looking up at the castle, but after a minute he moved on, the other two saw this and jogged to catch up with him. They came to the top of the path and the guard lowered the drawbridge for them.

Link handed Epona's reins to a servant, telling him to put her in the stables

"And make sure she's ready for riding again by three o'clock," Link shouted after the servant. He turned to Raphael and Siegfried who were standing behind him, looking around.

"Follow me and don't say anything to the king unless he asks you personally. OK." Link told them

They nodded and followed Link into the castle, looking at the flowing tapestries to the sides of them and at the domed ceilings and chandeliers above. Link knocked on the door to the throne room and walked inside, the king wasn't on his throne, so Link turned to one of the guards.

"Where's the king, I have to talk to him?" Link asked. The guard flinched his head towards the door and Link began walking towards it. He knocked on it and heard a voice.

"Come in," it called.

Link walked inside with Raphael and Siegfried following.

The king sat in a chair at a large oak desk that was in front of him, he had short dark brown hair and light blue eyes. He wore a golden crown set with precious stones and a red robe with a triforce and three goddesses on the back of it. He looked at Link and smiled.

"Link, you're not supposed to be back until next week, what's happened?"

Link tipped his head towards the king and answered.

"Your majesty," he began "I know that I'm supposed to be back on Monday, but there has been a slight change of plan."

"Oh," the king asked raising an eyebrow

Link began speaking in Hylian to the king, so that the Europeans couldn't understand what was being said.

"Sala ta cuna se, a hava dau sesroh del may, te saraham un fo Raphael, te reoth fo Siegfried. Siegfried haseaha greeda atha ethem may, talu Raphael haseaha unis greeda atha ethem fined dey ethit san kinefa."

Which translates as:

"As you can see, I have two people with me, the taller one is Raphael, and the other is Siegfried. Siegfried has agreed to help, but Raphael has only agreed to help if we heal his daughter."

The king sat for a minute, thinking about this, it seemed fair, to help Raphael's daughter in exchange for his help to the country.

"Raphael," the king said. Raphael looked up and looked at the king, Link had now moved to behind the king's chair.

"You will help us, if we help your daughter?"

"Yes."

"Very well, Link, take Raphael and his daughter to the infirmary," the king ordered

"Yes, sire." Link walked to the door and opened it and Raphael and Siegfried walked out, Link then bowed to the king and left.

He led them through the winding corridors and down to the infirmary.

"So that is your king?" Raphael asked

"Mmm Hmm," Link answered

As Link turned a corner he bumped into Zelda.

"Link," she shrieked as she threw her arms around him, her face buried in Link's shoulder. Link chuckled lightly and disentangled himself from Zelda's hug. Raphael and Siegfried stood behind, both looking at Zelda as she hugged Link.

"Link, you're not supposed to be back until next week, what's happened?" she asked, smiling at him.

Link explained to Zelda what had happened.

"It's great that you're back, I missed you," she murmured

"Uh, Princess," Link said uneasily "I've only been gone for a week...and I'll be leaving later today as well."

"Oh," Zelda's face fell as he said that

"I won't be gone as long this time though," he put in, trying to cheer her up a bit.

"Ok, I'll see you later Link," she smiled and walked away, tipping her head towards Siegfried and Raphael in acknowledgement of them.

The two Europeans glanced at each other.

"Pretty, isn't she?" Siegfried muttered to Raphael

Raphael looked at Siegfried, closed his eyes slowly and nodded silently. Amy, Raphael's foster daughter, stirred in his arms, and it suddenly reminded the Frenchman that he needed to get her to a doctor. He cleared his throat to get Link's attention; Link however was leaning against the wall, waiting for them. He turned around quickly and began to lead them through the corridors again. After about two minutes they came to a very solid looking mahogany door, with a sign in Hylian above it. Link knocked on the heavy door and slowly turned the handle and pushed it inwards, as he did a smell of disinfectant immediately reached him, and he recoiled from the smell.

Inside the room was fairly large, ten beds sat in the room, five on each side each with a small bedside table and oil lamp beside it. All of the beds were covered in pure white sheets, all ready in case of an emergency. Link glanced behind him at Raphael, who was silently surveying the room, Siegfried stood back, apparently detesting hospitals for some reason.

"I'll wait here, I have no business coming in with you," he mumbled

Raphael seemed to agree with him and looked at Link who sighed and pushed the door open fully and began to lead Raphael down the rows of beds and to a small office. He knocked on the door a couple of times and waited for an answer.

The door slowly creaked open and a doctor about 30 years old stepped forward.

"Link...can I help you?" he asked in a friendly tone.

Link smiled and began to explain to the doctor about Amy. The doctor nodded and opened the door wide.

"Raphael," Link addressed him, "I'll be waiting outside the door with Siegfried."

Raphael nodded his head and stepped inside the room holding Amy. The door shut behind him with a click and Link headed out to Siegfried.

He opened the heavy door and saw the German standing and looking extremely bored. Link closed the door and sighed.

"We'll have to wait here for him," Link informed him.

Siegfried merely grunted. They stood in silence, when footsteps began to approach; two people were walking down the corridor.

A servant suddenly ran up to Link, spoke to him briefly in Hylian and walked away; Link shouted something after him, the second person was a young man about the same age as Link. He had dark blonde hair and greenish blue eyes, was the same height and build as Link and looked almost exactly the same as Link apart from the hair and eye colour. This was Liam Dalher, (pronounced 'Dal- Hair') Link's 'twin' brother as he was called. In reality both came from different families and backgrounds, but were known as twins because of their similarities.

He walked up to Link and smiled, speaking to him in Hylian, Link nodded and smiled back in reply to his friend, who quickly turned around and walked off.

"And that was?" Siegfried asked.

"That was my 'twin'" he said the word 'twin' sarcastically "brother, Liam. We're not real brothers but everyone calls us twins because we're almost completely identical."

"Oh, in what way?"

"Well for example... we look very similar as you can see, we have the same birthdates, hobbies, likes, dislikes, jobs, skills, allergies, height, build, weight and we're both left handed, stuff like that. Although we do have different backgrounds and families."

"What's the difference in your background and families?"

"My background is different from Liam's through the fact that I'm the Hero of Time and have had many adventures. I grew up in the Kokiri forest and have traveled all across Hyrule and many different lands.

Liam, grew up in Hyrule Market Town, and has never ventured far. He took up his job here at Hyrule castle shortly after I defeated Ganon, his family had lost a lot of its wealth through the seven years under Ganondorf's rule, so he was sent here by his mother to work." Link explained

"And your families?"

"Liam's family was fairly well off. He has four siblings, two brothers and two sisters, a mother, father and numerous relatives. His siblings are all older than him. His eldest brother Zefram is 8 years older, Aaron is 7 years older and his two sisters, Grace and Hope, who are twins, are 5 years older. He really didn't get along well with them as they usually completely ignored him... his mother Honor , is a very nice lady, who genuinely cares for all her children and would do anything to save her family, she is very sweet, gentle, kind and is very willing to help anyone in need and she was friends with my own mother. Liam's father... is totally opposite, and in my opinion a total nutter." Link paused to get his breath back, and frowned at the thought of Liam's Dad.

"And you think he's insane because..."

"He's an extremely nasty, spiteful, power craving man. He suffers from obsessive compulsive disorder. And I mean _obsessive_. You see he's a totally obsessed perfectionist. All his side of the family suffers from it. You see his parents were extremely strict and they in turn have passed it onto him, he's had his whole life planned out practically since he was able to talk. He decided at what age he would have his first friends at, how many there would be, then when he would get his first job, when he would get engaged and marry, and if something doesn't go according to plan...he does his nut."

"So it wasn't much fun for Liam and the rest of his family?"

"Well no, not quite. You see when Liam's mum and dad got married he decided how many kids he wanted and when they would be born and what sex they would be. He decided he wanted four kids, first two boys and then twin girls. And this was exactly what happened so he was happy. But when Liam's mother got pregnant with Liam, his father did his nut, Liam was..." Link dropped his voice "a mistake. He tried to get his wife to abort, but she was firm on keeping him. So when Liam was born, his father alienated him and spoilt all the other children. He beat Liam and punished him for the most insignificant little thing, he wouldn't let him go out to play, and he made him do all the housework so basically his life was a misery,"

Link paused. "When Liam's family fell into poverty, he came here to serve as a guard, just as I did. We met the same day and instantly became best friends."

"Charming father," Siegfried commented "So what about your history?"

Link lowered his eyes and head.

"I told you, I grew up with the Kokiri and became the Hero of Time," muttered Link

"I mean your parents, you said the Kokiri didn't grow up and besides you're a Hylian."

Link looked up at Siegfried, upset. He realized that he probably wasn't aware of the fact that Link's parents were dead and Siegfried said he had killed his own father. _"He probably will think I'm a wimp for crying over the fact I never knew my parents, he most likely hasn't cared about anyone in his entire life"_

Link blinked several times, looking away.

"I...My...I've never known my parents, they died when I was a baby, which is why I was brought up with the Kokiri," muttered Link, tears welling up in his eyes

"Oh...I apologize...I didn't realize that you were a...well...orphan," Siegfried mumbled, sounding surprisingly sincere (if you can imagine a mass murderer with an extremely low growling voice sounding sincere).

"It doesn't matter," Link said, brushing it off

The door to their right slowly creaked open and a very somber faced Raphael stepped through

"Well?" Link asked, wanting to know the young girl's outcome.

"The doctor said she should be fine in a few days she just needs to rest, eat etc. and she should be fine."

"So...everything's alright, why the long face then?"

"To be honest I was rather hoping....doesn't matter."

Link let it drop; he wasn't going to do any good pressuring Raphael when he was in a downed mood.

He turned away.

"Well, seeing as how we still have some spare time and you might be staying here for a few days in between looking for people and confronting Ganondorf, I suppose I better find some rooms for you to stay in hadn't I?"

"I suppose so" said Siegfried, wondering what Raphael had been going to say

Link turned away, heading up the stairs, the two Europeans following him. After five minutes of uncomfortable walking, Link turned to the two men standing behind him.

"Just out of interest...OK, maybe not ... can either of you ride a horse?"

Siegfried nodded while Raphael shook his head.

Link couldn't believe this...he walked up to the rooms, showing Siegfried to his and Raphael's to him.

"Feel free to wander round the castle, if someone asks what you're doing here, just say you're with me and I said you could have a look around...and all the people speak English so don't worry about not understanding them. Siegfried...can you be back in your room by three o'clock if you don't see me before then, I need you to come to Japan with me and point out any body who could help us out."

"What about me?" Raphael asked, sounding almost disgusted that he was being left out.

"Seeing as how you can't ride a horse...and we can...we'll be going on horseback. Having two on one horse would slow us down and you walking would slow us down even more. Besides I thought you might like to stay here so you can check up on Amy every now and again." Link answered

Raphael nodded his understanding and went into his room, Siegfried was about to say something to Link when a man walked up to them.

He was tall, about 5'11 and very muscular, he had to be about 25 years old...give or take a year. And he was good looking. He had a soft boyish face, vivid ice blue eyes but with a grey, almost silver quality about them and dusty darkish blonde hair, that covered his right eye. It was also fairly obvious that the man wasn't from around here, in fact he didn't have the elfish look of the Hylians about him, and he was definitely more normal human in appearance. His clothes gave him away too; he wore a pair of navy blue combat trousers, a black close fitting t-shirt with a high neck and a brown fleece jacket, with a white short fur collar.

"Hi," he greeted Link,

Siegfried was silently surprised, from the man's boyish looks you would suppose he would have a fairly light voice to match his features. Instead, his voice was quite low and unexpectedly quite deep, but still possessed a smooth gentle quality.

"Hi, Leon," Link greeted back

"Back early aren't you, thought you wouldn't be back for a couple of days yet."

"Oh, well. I have a few reasons...besides did you want me to be gone longer?" Link asked

The man smiled slightly and shook his head.

"So who's this?" he asked, flinching his head towards Siegfried.

"Oh yeah, I forgot to introduce you...this," Link said, motioning to the German "is Siegfried, he's come to help us fight against Ganon and Siegfried this is Leon," he stated motioning to the man.

Siegfried tipped his head slightly in acknowledgement and greeting.

"Guten Tag," Leon greeted

"'Sprechen Sie Deutsch?" Siegfried asked

"Ja."

Link watched the two talking in German for a little while in amusement. It seemed that when he was speaking his own language, Siegfried relaxed and was a little less hostile towards people, at the moment a slight smile seemed to want to creep onto his face.

"_I wonder if he realizes Leon is American...I don't suppose it really matters though a language is a language."_

The two men stopped speaking and looked at Link.

"...What?" Link asked, looking somewhat apprehensive

"You mean you don't speak German?" Leon asked, seemingly astonished

"Noooo," he answered slowly

"Oh my God! I've finally found a language that Link can't speak" the American exclaimed

"What?" Siegfried asked

"Link can speak like...12 languages; I suppose he learns them from all the traveling he does.

Don't ask him to list them though; you'll be here 'til doomsday." he smiled slightly at the German, then led Link away for a moment to talk to him privately, he then left silently.

"So what's his story?" Siegfried asked when the man was out of sight.

"Leon?...What d'you mean?"

"Well, his not from around here, or my world...so where's he from?"

"Leon is from a more modern world than yours or mine; anyway, I think he said he comes from America. He wandered through a portal one day that led to Hyrule and it closed behind him. We met and he explained the situation, we became friends and the king allowed him to stay because he felt sorry for him."

"Why did he feel sorry for him?"

"Leon is 26, he married a woman called Claire Redfield when they were 24 and had a kid together when they were 25. The king feels sorry for him because he knows what it's like to loose family, Leon really cared about them"

"Shame."

Link nodded silently, and then walked away. Siegfried went to lie down in his own room.

Link arrived automatically at Zelda's door and walked inside after knocking. He smiled at the beautiful young woman sitting on her bed, looking at him.

"How are our guests?" she asked

"Well, Siegfried seems to have brightened up a bit, but Raphael's still a bit down, supposedly about his daughter, but I think he doesn't like being here, it's only natural, since he isn't used to it but..." Link trailed off.

"I'm sure he'll come to his senses."

"Anyway, how has Leon been as your bodyguard?"

"Great, he'll be taking your job soon," she teased

"See? I told you that you would be alright with him...did Ganon visit again?"

"Yes, I have to say it's a good job that Leon was in the meeting with us."

"Why?" Link asked, suddenly worried over the thought that situations might have gotten out of hand.

"Ganondorf...he got rather annoyed and took a swing at me...but it's OK. Leon stopped him and forced him out of the castle with the help of some of the guards...he's a lot stronger than he looks. But now I'm afraid that Ganondorf will be even more malicious when he attacks. It's not Leon's fault, but he seems to think it is."

"Leon? He sounded rather upset when he talked to me a few minutes ago. Quite shaken up it seems, I've calmed him down...but he's still worried. I think it's reminding him of his family, poor guy. He said that since he came here we've been so kind to him, and he would hate to loose his new family. He's not turning his back on his true family...but I suppose he does need some one to care about, and someone to care about him."

"Hmmm" Zelda mused

"He still doesn't realize that we care about him and that we do see him as part of our family...I think."

"I'm sure that with all the current events, he will realize soon though."

"Maybe, I'm gonna go back to my room and get some rest before we leave, sounds like it's going to be a long day."

Link kissed Zelda lightly on the lips and then left her room heading down to his.

Link woke up at about quarter to three. He ran up to Zelda's room and explained to her that he and Siegfried would be leaving again soon. She nodded, giving him a good-bye kiss and wishing him luck in finding more people.

He headed down to Siegfried's room and knocked on the door.

"Come in," Siegfried's rough voice called. He lay on his back on his bed, arms on the pillow underneath his head, and staring up at the ceiling.

"Hey, you ready to go?" Link asked

"Sure, I was actually waiting for you."

Link smiled and left the room whilst Siegfried got up and joined him at the door. They walked along side by side. Though the two were still silent, there didn't seem to be as much tension between the two as there was before.

They reached the stables five minutes later. It was quite an amazing sight at the stables, about twenty different coloured horses stood tied up outside their stables, about fifty more horses were bolted up inside and thirty ran freely in the massive green pasture nearby. All the horses seemed to be happy, there were all strong, glossy coated healthy looking animals and seemed to be unafraid of Siegfried's unfamiliar form. The multitude of horses seemed to neigh in greeting as Link walked past them, and he smiled stopping to give a quick rub behind the ears to some of them. He reached a stable about half way down and came to a stop in front of it.

"Hi Epona," he greeted the mare, rubbing her nose with his hand. He was about to unbolt the stable door, when she put her nose in front of it to stop him. Link raised an eyebrow at the horse's odd behaviour, Siegfried let out a small chuckle as the horse pushed his hand away time and again, every time he reached for the bolt.

"Fine, get yourself out then" Link snorted, stepping back.

Epona merely bent her head down to the bolt, closed her teeth around it and pulled the bolt back, then trotted out to meet Link, looking for all the world too smug for her own good. Link chuckled as she nuzzled against his hand, looking for praise.

"Alright, alright...good girl...so you've learnt a new trick, huh? Bet the stable lads aren't too happy about that."

"You can bet they're not," said a tall man in his late thirties as he walked up to Link. The man was well built and slim, his body covered in horseshoe shaped scars and bruises.

"You been re-shoeing the stallions again?" asked Link as the man approached him, motioning towards the bruises.

"How did you guess?" he muttered sarcastically "and what do you think you're doing praising that horse after its little 'trick'?"

Link didn't answer as the man huffed and walked off.

"Is he always that moody?" Siegfried asked

"Yup, he just doesn't like me because he can't believe a warrior, especially who hasn't dealt with horses for that long, can beat him a, 'stable master' at his own game."

"Childish."

"Very."

Link walked into the stable grabbing the various bits of leather tack that were hanging on the stable's low cut separating wall. The wall was designed so that the horses could see and touch each other but not inflict any major harm.

Link dropped the tack on the floor and grabbed a brush from inside the stable and began brushing Epona's glossy coat.

Siegfried looked at the horse while Link brushed it. She had a deep chestnut coloured coat, a pure white mane and tail and a strange white, lightening bolt pattern on her face. Her legs were all perfectly symmetrical in pattern, changing from chestnut brown to pitch black and then stunning white and slightly feathering at the bottom. The German man really admired the animal.

Link began sliding all the tack onto the horse, tightening the straps and adjusting the way it lay on the animal's body, smoothing out any mistakes. He then attended to her feet, picking them out with a hoof pick to make sure she could walk comfortably and sure footedly.

"I have to say, I admire the way you're so devoted to your horse," Siegfried stated

"Well...I promised the girl I got her off that I would take good care of her, plus Epona deserves it, she's very loyal to me so," Link responded

He tied her up and moved down the row of stables, assessing each of the horses, before selecting one for Siegfried. He led the animal out of the stable.

"Will this guy do for you?" he asked the European, handing the reins to him.

Siegfried took the reins and walked the horse up and down, gauging the horse's strength and reliability.

"Sure, he looks good. But let's see how he reacts to me."

He offered a hand to the horse whilst Link stood back and watched. The horse stretched its head out to touch Siegfried's hand, sniffing it and then turning to look at the man; he put a hand on the horse's head and rubbed it.

"Looks like I've made a friend," he commented, turning to look at Link.

Link had a look of near astonishment on his face.

"What?" Siegfried asked, surprised by Link's reaction.

"That is amazing.... That horse has been here for five years. He won't let any one near him for too long, and he certainly won't let anyone ride him. Looks like he's found someone he finally likes," Link smiled at Siegfried.

Siegfried turned to look at the horse. It had a pitch black coat, mane and tail. Its tail had a very small white tip at the very end of it. On the horse's neck, there were a few small patches of a shimmering brownish-red coat that ended near the animals forelegs. They spotted down in uneven patches, and around the horses mouth was a small ring of hair, of the same colour. The colour and positioning of the patches, made it look like the horse had been drinking blood. However, it was a very beautiful animal nevertheless, it held its head high and proud, it was large and strong, and an absolutely magnificent and rare looking specimen...and the horse knew it.

"He's so proud, he's amazing and he knows it...but apparently he has a very gentle temperament when he finds someone he likes. Of course, the fact that he's a stallion could have something to do with his pride," Link stated.

"What's his name?"

"....Umm....Nightmare, is the name the stable lads gave him."

"Uh...ironic, don't you think?"

"Yeah, but coincidence nevertheless."

Siegfried smiled at the young Hylian, and led the horse up to where Epona was tied up, along with the tack and a brush. He quickly took hold of the horses halter and handed Link the brush, who began to the groom the animal.

"Since he's so hard to handle, he hasn't been groomed thoroughly for a while so I'll take a bit of time doing it...I know this isn't going to be a parade, but he could use it and his feet need sorting out as well."

In a matter of 30 minutes, Link had amazingly managed to thoroughly brush the horses coat, mane and tail. Pick out its feet, trim the stallion's hooves, re-shoe it and saddle it up. All with Siegfried holding the halter of the horse.

"Thanks for holding him. He really needed that grooming. Usually to do that it would take about 8 stable lads, the stable/horse master and I, and it would take all day."

Siegfried made no comment, just tilted his head towards Link for a moment and rubbed the horse's forehead.

"Are we ready to go?" Siegfried asked

"Sure."

The two blondes mounted their horses and left the stables of Hyrule castle.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A.N: Due to people noticing lack of punctuation etc. I have re-written the first two chapters and will subsequently be having them checked over by a friend. Secondly, I do apologise if the characters (especially Siegfried) stray from their personalities, it is partly intentional if Siegfried seems a bit softer than usual.

In the first chapter when Siegfried 'spills his guts' as someone described **cough **Jing Royale **cough** it was merely to speed up the meeting to get on with the rest of the story and add some background to the characters even if everybody already knows it.

And last but not least Leon (from Resi Evil) is there just because I needed a spare character who was one of my favourites to guard Zelda and I thought it might be good to keep the time distance thing (E.g. Ocarina of Time) there (I don't know why but **shrugs**)

Oh and sorry about the 'noticable, badly placed' passages. I just couldn't be bothered re-wording them, they were copied straight from the gametc.

And yes, I like Wesker (no, he probably won't be in the story)


	3. Maxi

A.N: With thanks to my friend Rosie again and Jenny and Justine, for taking an interest in this.

Chapter 3: Maxi

_We lose the certain things, while we seek the uncertain ones. – Latin Proverb_

Link and Siegfried rode across Hyrule field, both looking at the beauty of the massive plain. Short emerald spikes of grass blew in the gentle breeze that flickered through the clean air of Hyrule, waving at the two men on the horses. The sky still shone its brilliant azure blue, the sun just beginning to sink after hitting its midday peak. There were no clouds in the sky to obscure the blazing orbs rays form the warriors, the warmth gently hitting them, warming their skin. The Verdant leaves of the trees fluttered slightly as Link, Epona, Siegfried and Nightmare plodded underneath them.

"You have a beautiful country here; I see now why you're so determined to fight for it."

"It's not just the fact that it's beautiful that I fight for it. It's because it's my homeland and I'll stand by her no matter what happens. I'm destined to watch over this beautiful land alongside Zelda and the Sages, underneath the goddess's protection...it's my destiny."

The German knight looked over to Link, amazed by how dedicated he was to his homeland.

"So...what's Raphael's story?...No offence to him but he seems a bit of a, well, obnoxious sod to be honest."

"You mean what made Raphael into the sour-faced git he is now?"

"In a word...yes."

"Raphael was born into a family of nobles, while the rest of France was stricken with poverty. He grew up with...to use an almost poetic term as someone once said 'the tumultuous age as his cradle, the scheming of noble families as his lullaby, and the rapier and medicine as his playmates.' His cool, unemotional demeanour created many enemies, but his quick and precise decision-making and execution skills solidified the foundation of his family amongst the nobles. Unfortunately for Monsieur Sorel he made a mistake one day and paid dearly for it.

In desperation over the matter, Raphael's family betrayed him, and agreed to hand him over to the enemy in order to save their pitiful lives." He stopped for a moment to think about what he would say next

"He managed to escape with only the rapier he carries with him now, the clothes he's wearing and his life.

He made his way into poverty stricken towns to avoid the soldiers that were looking for him. Unused to a life of poverty Raphael couldn't bear the cold and hunger he suffered in the slums. He certainly would have died if it were not for Amy, who hid him from the soldiers out of spite. This created a bond between him and Amy and he has never since been able to live without her. After befriending a noble to take care of the little girl, Raphael killed the man saying 'that the lord had left on a long journey and may not return for sometime' he then left his daughter to find Soul Edge. The nobles would fight over it, destroying themselves and a future would be secured for Amy." Siegfried finished.

"All that for a little girl?"

"Hmmm."

They had reached the stone wall that Link had been searching for, with the portal embedded in its surface, and with a little hesitation went through it, straight into Japan.

The sun was just rising in Japan, signalling the start of a new day. The glowing orb arced gracefully in the sky, it's light streaking across the land, illuminating everything while the sky turned a gentle pink and the cloud layer lifted.

"I suppose your going to need to know about the next person we want?" Siegfried started, breaking the silence.

"Sure, it would be helpful to know about him."

"Well, you know when we met and I was talking about the destined battles and I mentioned the pirate, Maxi?"

"Yeah."

"That's who we are here for. Seeing as Astaroth is one of your enemies at the moment, Maxi should be willing to help you out because of his hatred for the golem. Also, Maxi likes adventuring which is why he was on his way to Europe when his crew was killed by Astaroth...he wanted to explore new lands. The idea of seeing a totally new world, never mind a land should please him. He's also very friendly and easy going so it shouldn't be too hard to persuade him."

"Any other reasons?"

"He's the only person to ever be recorded in defeating Astaroth."

"Sounds like a good guy to have on your side."

"And for the fourth person, we'll just have to see what happens."

Link nodded his understanding. He looked ahead seeing that they were fast approaching a village. They entered the village warily, as if something might happen suddenly. A load of people were already out, despite the early time. They all seemed very relaxed and happy and gave the two travellers no troubles.

The two blondes dismounted and led the horses through the village and stopped in an alley.

"We're going to have to ask to find him, you know Link...and I don't speak Japanese." Siegfried stated

"Well it's lucky that Japanese is one of the languages I've learnt somehow, then isn't it?"

"Really? You can speak Japanese?"

"Absolutely."

The two walked out into the crowd when Siegfried spotted a familiar face. He walked up to a man slightly taller than himself. The man was dressed in Samurai armour and carried a Katana. He wore a beard and his long dark hair was tied back.

"Mitsurugi!" Siegfried called, the man stopped, looked towards the direction the voice came from and began to head towards Siegfried.

"Nightmare?"

"That's me."

"What are you doing here in Japan?" Mitsurugi asked, apparently not trusting the German as his hand was grasping the hilt of his Katana.

After a short explanation and questioning of whether Mitsurugi would join them, the Japanese man shook his head.

"I'm busy for a week or two...and besides there would be nothing in it for me. I'm not really interested in going to a new world or fighting more."

"Fine, I didn't expect you to anyway. One more thing though, have you seen anyone like Maxi or Yunsung around?"

"As a matter of fact, yes. They're both in the next town up; they were fighting over something before. They both said they'll be staying there for a couple of days...I think Maxi is on his way down to his old house in Ryukyu (Okinawa) and Yunsung is accompanying him for the hell of it. I think he's just bored and is looking for something to do, so he might join you." Mitsurugi finished

"Thanks for your help." Stated Siegfried, he nodded to Mitsurugi and mounted his horse again with Link following.

"Helpful, wasn't he?" Link commented

"And surprisingly pleasant. He's not famous for his pleasant demeanour...I'm wondering what's gotten into him. It doesn't really matter though."

"As long as he hasn't lied to us I don't mind."

The two reached the town further up the road in half an hour. During that time, they had talked about their pasts more, becoming very friendly with each other.

Link slid off Epona's back and walked her through the town, when a commotion startled both him and Siegfried. They looked at each other momentarily, before tying the horses up and walking over to where a large circle of people had formed. Siegfried squeezed his way forward to the front of the circle to see what the commotion was about, Link in tow.

The sight in front of them wasn't particularly unusual. Two young men were in the centre of the circle. One was standing up, with his sword pointing towards the other man. He was barely an adult; he had to be 19 at the most. He was of an average height, with a muscular build, and the most noticeable thing about him was that he had almost flame red hair, short, but spiked. He was wearing a pair of white trousers with black patterns on the knees and a white and orange top, cut short so that a small portion of his chiselled abdomen could be seen. He wore orange cuffs on each wrist and black training shoes, striped with red, his stance was quite aggressive.

The other man was sitting, very relaxed in a chair, his right arm resting on the table, supporting his head. He was smiling slightly at the younger man's actions. The man was older, by about a decade than the teenager standing up. He stood up and walked up to the teenager. He was about an inch shorter than the teenager, and very heavily built, whilst still being slim. He had short pitch black hair that was slicked back, but with a piece that rose up and hung down over his face, he was very handsome and it was clear by people's interest in him that he was well liked. His clothes indicated that he had been a sailor at one point, he wore a kind of sailor's coat, crisp white and open in the front and sleeveless, the lapels decorated with Chinese dragons, his trousers were the same white, loose and tucked into the knee high boots that he wore. He held a nunchaku in his right hand.

The two oriental men stood looking at each other for a while, and then the older man merely walked up to his friend and in a seemingly friendly gesture put his arm round the younger man's neck and shoulders.

"Yunsung, Yunsung, Yunsung." He repeated, like a father that was disappointed with his child "How many times do I have to tell you..." He didn't finish his sentence, because he slammed the boy, who was presumably Yunsung, into the floor by flicking his elbow into the boy's neck, before going to sit down again in such a casual manner that you would have thought he had merely asked for the time.

The crowd laughed at the boy before moving off to get on with business.

Siegfried approached as soon as the crowd had dispersed.

"I see you're being pleasant to Yunsung then, Maxi." He said addressing the black haired man. The man, Maxi, looked up at Siegfried and smiled at him in a slightly cocky manner before looking at Yunsung, who had picked himself up off the floor and was walking over to the table.

Siegfried and Link slid themselves into two chairs at the table.

"Yeah, well he needs to be kept in line....don't you Yunsung?" Maxi answered, calling to the teenager walking towards him. Yunsung merely scowled at the pirate and sat down

"So what can I do for you on this fine day, Siggy?" Maxi asked, with an air of boredom in his voice

Siegfried scowled when Maxi mentioned his nickname and shortly replied:

"Ask Link." motioning towards Link with a flick of his wrist. Maxi raised an eyebrow and turned to the young blonde haired man, nodding his head as if to say that it was alright to talk to him. Yunsung was looking at Siegfried, an eyebrow raised as to why he was with Link; he shrugged and walked into a nearby inn.

"... Well?" Maxi asked

"Oh for god's sake!" Siegfried exclaimed when Link didn't answer Maxi. "Maxi, this is Link...he comes...somewhat strangely, from a land called Hyrule, which is under threat."

"And you want me to help you defeat whatever enemy you face? A few questions...1. Why do you want my help? 2. What's in it for me? 3.Why do I know that your land is worth saving?"

Link cleared his throat before answering the questions:

"In answer to your questions...1. Because you are clearly a strong warrior who may be willing to help once I explain the situations properly. 2. The chance to see and explore new lands...and defeat your enemy Astaroth once and for all..." Link stopped, looking at Maxi and started again quickly before he could interrupt the break "And 3. Well, you don't but since when is it important to see whether a land is worth saving, if somebody requests your help?"

"1. Good answer, 3, Good answer and as for number 2....ASTAROTH IS ALIVE?!" Maxi exclaimed upon hearing that his enemy is back.

"Well, here is my answer...Yes, I will help you. I decided to as soon as you asked, but I just wanted to see what you were like before I answered. So are you going explain everything to me?"

"I will on the way back to Hyrule...first we need one more person to help us fight." Link answered

"Leon..." Siegfried answered

"Is protecting the princess while we fight Ganondorf and his allies."

"Liam..."

"Is preparing the armies and will be leading them into battle." Link finished.

"Well....Yunsung might consider it, I'll go ask him" Maxi cut in, getting up and walking to the inn.

He came back a few minutes later.

"The idiot has started off to the next town. Apparently he's annoyed at me for 'showing him up' just wait till I get my hands on him, we better go quickly if you want to catch up with him."

"Sure, we have nothing else to do here if Yunsung has left." Link answered, looking to Siegfried, who nodded his approval.

The two blondes mounted their horses as Maxi went inside to pay the inn keeper and gather up his few belongings. He came out to see the two on horseback.

"Who am I riding with?"

"Whoever you want to" Link answered, looking at the mountains in the distance, he was surprised when Maxi, sauntered up to Epona and looked up at him, questioning.

Link steadied Epona before nodding and Maxi swung his leg over Epona's rump and settling into place behind Link, who had moved forward to give him room. He kicked Epona gently, starting to walk her forwards before slowly building up speed until she was cantering. Siegfried and Nightmare were beside them, matching the pace perfectly.

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A.N.: Same things as before. Explanations about things will be given in e-mails. There are some in chapter 2, since they were re-written a bit.

Any questions/complaints should be sent to my e-mail so that I can contact you personally. It saves wasting review pages. All other comments should be left in review pages. It just makes it easier for me to explain and answer. Please leave your e-mail address if you wish to contact me through the review

Thanks


	4. Yunsung

A.N: Same as usual, thanks 2 my friends, yada, yada, yada...on with the show

Chapter 4: Yunsung

_If you believe in me, I'll believe in you – Lewis Carroll, through the looking glass_

The three travellers: Link, Siegfried and Maxi, were discussing the current situation of Hyrule, after Link had explained it to Maxi and were just entering the next town, further down road, which happened to be the first that Link and Siegfried had arrived in. The horses were strolling at a leisurely pace now; their riders not too bothered about pushing them, as Yunsung couldn't have got too far on foot. As they entered the village Maxi dismounted and walked up to a man standing outside a weapons shop of all things.

"Chotto, chotto (Excuse me)." He said to the man, getting his attention, he continued to speak to the man after a couple of minutes he walked back to Link and Siegfried. He was about to tell Link where Yunsung was when he shook his head. Maxi raised an eyebrow.

"I can speak Japanese," Link clarified

"Oh, joy," Maxi stated sarcastically. Making their way down the street they found Yunsung moping in a chair outside a small café.

"Yunsung?" Maxi said. Yunsung turned around to see Maxi

"What do you want?"

"This gentleman has a question for you," he said motioning to Link

"I don't care."

"Why did you walk off?"

"Because you humiliated me and treated me like some stupid child."

"I was just putting you in your place...and if you want to be treated like an adult then act like one."

"I do!"

"No you don't, if you want to be treated like an adult, ask what this young man wants."

"NO!"

"Stop being childish and ask Link what he wants and he will answer you as an adult. If you listen to him and make a decision out of mature reasoning, I will treat you like an adult."

"Fine."

Maxi walked past Link and muttered to him in Japanese "Use long words, he can't understand them."

"What would you like?" Yunsung asked impatiently

"I would like to know, whether you would consider returning with us to Hyrule, my land, in order to assist with a battle that is currently taking place between myself and my nemesis. If the war taking place is prolonged it could end in the destruction of my land and ultimately my world."

"I think I understood that, what do I get from it?"

"Ah, once again that familiar question arises," Link answered, with an air of posh ness in his voice, standing by Epona's left side so that Yunsung couldn't see him, Maxi was trying not to laugh, unfortunately he was fighting an uphill struggle and wasn't pulling it off very well.

"If you do collaborate with my cause, you will witness the splendour of Hyrule in all of its righteous beauty and have the fortuity to reconnoitre at will and length. Also, you may be recompensed in worldly goods of brilliant value."

"What?"

"Do I have to converse with you in elementary terminology?"

"Again, what?"

"Do I have to speak in simple words to you?"

"Absolutely."

"I said, if you do help me with fighting my enemy and saving Hyrule, you will get to see Hyrule in all its beauty and have the chance to explore it as much as you like. You may also be paid, quite highly."

"...I'm in!"

"Good, so that makes five of us," Link commented, looking down at Maxi, who was now biting his finger in trying to stop himself from laughing.

"Maxi, my dearest young man, would you care to accompany me on my noble steed and traverse with me unto the magnificent glory of my land that is Hyrule," Link asked, his chest thrust forwards and his nose so high in the air, that if he had been walking he would have tripped over.

"My good sir, nothing could make me additionally joyous as to accompany you on your most magnificent of jades, on this island of the land of the rising sun and unto your wondrous land of Hyrule," replied Maxi, jumping up behind Link onto Epona.

Yunsung grudgingly got behind Siegfried, who grunted in agitation at Link and Maxi's pompous display and words.

The horses moved into a slow trot towards the portal that led into Hyrule. Link began filling Yunsung in on the details that he had already explained to Maxi and Siegfried.

Link looked up at the sky trying to determine what time it was. Judging by the shadows it was about six in the morning. That meant that they would reach the portal around half past six, making it about seven o'clock in the evening in Hyrule by the time they got back. He was in no rush, so he stopped and slid off Epona.

"What are you doing?" Siegfried asked

"We've got plenty of time, so there is no point in rushing. Plus Epona looks like she could use a rest and a bit of a chance to run without riders on her," He stated, motioning to the horse, who had her head down and ears flat.

The other men shrugged and slid of their own horses, while Link made his way into a little pasture with a river beside it to sit down in. Epona trotted up to him after letting Maxi off, so that Link could take the tack off her. The others followed and Siegfried took the equipment off Nightmare, stacking in neatly against a tree trunk next to Epona's. The two horses galloped off running along the edge of the road, whilst Link, Maxi, Siegfried and Yunsung sat in the grass and watched them.

Link woke up with a start at the movement against his arm. Looking over to his left he saw Epona nudging him with her nose, trying to get him to wake up for some reason. He rubbed her nose lazily and looked at the sun's position to try and gauge what time it was, he noticed, with a jolt of panicked realization, that it was 9 o'clock in the morning in Japan, meaning it was 9 o'clock at night at home in Hyrule. He quickly got to his feet and saddled up the two horses quickly and then turned to wake the three other sleeping individuals to find that only one was sleeping. He chuckled lightly at the sight. Siegfried was standing up and beside him as soon as he saw that Link was awake. Maxi, was sitting with his legs stretched out in front of him, his arms planted behind him, holding his torso up, he had a very drowsy yet annoyed look on his face. His clothes were creased and his chest had grass stains and lines on it. His white sailor's coat, having not much of a front to it had left his chest unprotected, but that wasn't what had annoyed him. The still sleeping Yunsung was curled up on his side, his arms wrapped around Maxi's waist as he slept, his face buried in Maxi's coat.

Maxi looked down at the young man, and removing his arms slung him over his shoulder and then dumping him on the front of Siegfried's horse. Link and Maxi mounted Epona, while Siegfried mounted Nightmare and tried to position Yunsung so he wouldn't fall off (like, I'm sure he really cares). In the end he just tied Yunsung to the saddle and had done with him, before kicking the horse into a trot.

They started off fairly slowly, but the horses soon broke into a gallop, Epona pushing herself as far as she could, seeming to understand her owner's anxiousness to get back to Hyrule.

About fifteen minutes later the horses reached the portal, Maxi looked at it apprehensively from his place behind Link.

"Uh...do we have to go through there?" He asked, sounding somewhat worried

Link nodded in answer and motioned to Siegfried to wake Yunsung up. The German looked down at the sleeping Korean teenager, and untied him and then proceeded to hit him until he woke up.

"What? What? I'm awake already, what do you want?" He muttered

"We're about to enter Hyrule, Link thought you might want to be awake to see it for the first time."

Yunsung straightened himself out and somehow managed to slide behind Siegfried without falling off the horse.

They moved slowly forward, the horses passing through the portal unfazed, Maxi and Yunsung apprehensive.

The sky was glowing red when they entered Hyrule, the sun setting, bleaching the sky with magnificent colours of reds and oranges, pinks and purples. The riders turned left, as if to head for the Gerudo valley as Link pointed it out to them, before moving Epona to the top of the hill and stopping her to watch the sunset. The three foreigners gazed at the amazing sight of the sun setting in another world; the colours oddly vibrant and vivid compared to their own. Over Death Mountain the sky was a deep purple, turning into velvet blue and the stars beginning to dot into the sky as the last of the sun's rays faded away from Hyrule for the night. Once the display was over the horses began to move again, cantering down to the castle town drawbridge.

Link called out to the guards in Hylian, asking them to lower the drawbridge so that they could pass through. Soon enough the guards lowered the drawbridge, allowing the four travellers through, before hurriedly raising the bridge again to protect the town's citizens.

Link looked up as the castle came in to sight, the Asians following his gaze and staring at the castle.

Before long they were entering the castle, Link handing the reins of the horses to a stable boy and showing the two new additions to their rooms and then retreating to his own, thinking about the events of the day.

It was late when Link woke up, the noise from the moat and servants and guards walking around and talking whilst the birds chirped loudly. He looked over to the clock on his nightstand, groaning when he had noticed that it was midday and that he should have been up two hours ago at the latest. He let his head drop back onto the pillow and closing his eyes, he opened them again when he heard Leon's familiar voice outside his door. He lifted his head just as Leon walked through the door.

"Yup, he's back and still lying in bed as usual," Leon called to whomever was outside. Whoever was actually, Liam and Zelda.

At that point about four doors slightly down the hall, opened and closed simultaneously as Maxi, Yunsung, Siegfried and Raphael stepped out of their rooms.

"Ahah! So your journey yesterday was not in vain I see," Leon stated and then stepped up to Link "Who's the blonde guy in blue with the face like a smacked ass?" He whispered

"Raphael," Link answered. He heard the newcomers talking with the princess and Liam.

"Give me a minute and I'll be out," Link called to them

He slid out of bed, dressed only in a pair of black shorts and grabbing some clothes he disappeared into the bathroom for a few minutes. Leon walked back over to the door, where Zelda was talking in a language he didn't recognize, to Liam.

Link walked out a minute after Leon started talking to the out-of-towners.

"Good mor...afternoon everybody," he greeted, closing the door behind him

"Afternoon, Link, Did you sleep well?" Zelda questioned

Link merely arched an eyebrow, as if to say 'would I be getting up this late if I hadn't'. Zelda laughed at him for a second, before turning her attention to the rest of the group.

"Has everyone been introduced or were we waiting for a formal introduction from me?" Link asked

"We are waiting for a formal introduction from you Link," Liam answered "but I think we best take it downstairs...as you and I in the least haven't had breakfast yet, so let's go and grab lunch instead." A few of the others nodded in agreement and followed the home-team downstairs into the conservatory, which was where Zelda usually ate her lunch.

"So...are you going to introduce us, Link?" She asked after taking the count for a light meal and telling a servant

"I suppose so." he looked around for a moment before saying "Yunsung, Maxi and Raphael, this," he motioned to the home team "is Leon Kennedy, Liam, and Princess Zelda and vice versa," he said crossing his arms to point at the two groups "Siegfried has already met everyone else so..."

"You never were much good at introductions, were you Link?" Liam stated

"Like you can talk," Link snorted

The groups talked for a while, swapping stories about their own pasts and generally getting to know each other. Link left soon after all the details had been gone over about people, to tell the king that the team was complete.

"So what's going on between you and Link, huh princess?" Maxi asked as soon as Link was out the room. In the past half an hour or so, everybody, excluding Raphael, had become fairly friendly with each other, asking about love lives and dates and personal information such as that. So naturally, Zelda took it with good humour when Maxi asked.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she faked, sticking her nose into the air and folding her arms.

"Don't give me that, there's obviously something going on between you two, you're so close with each other. Besides, Leon has been making little signals about you two to me when you weren't looking."

"Kennedy," she said quietly, fake glaring at Leon

Leon whistled innocently, putting his arms behind his back. Maxi chuckled.

"For your information, Maxi, Link and I are dating and have been for about a year now and are very happy with each other, so I'll have no jokes about us splitting up, thank you very much," she said mock haughtily. At that point Link walked back into the room, announcing dinner with one word.

"FOOD!"

The group looked up at the sudden outburst and Raphael looked at Zelda as if to say 'you're happy with that thing?'

Link by now was on the floor, dragging himself towards his favourite chair, when he noticed Leon sitting in it.

"Kennedy, get out of the chair."

"Hey, I stole this chair fair and square."

"It's not for you; it's for Impa. You know she's hurt her leg and she wants to talk to Zelda," Link stated

Leon got out of the chair and walked over to the door to open it at the sound of knocking. Link made a beeline for the chair as Impa walked in to talk to Zelda, with nothing to suggest her leg was hurting her.

"I thought that chair was for Impa and that she had hurt her leg."

"Well, you thought wrong didn't you; you should never trust a Hylian, whose chair you've just stolen."

Impa had turned to look at Leon, with 'you fell for that?' written across her face

"Oh Leon," Link called again "Did you know the word gullible isn't in the dictionary?"

"Very funny Link. I'm not that stupid you know," Maxi and Yunsung were talking quietly to each other, apparently about Impa.

"Listen Hylian; if you don't move out of that chair, I will come over there and sit on you," Leon growled

"Empty threats," Link replied

Leon walked over to Link, and glared at him for a moment, before sitting on him.

"Good Goddesses! How much do you weigh?" Link shouted

Leon merely ignored him, looking to the door as the servants walked in with a few trays and plates, setting them on a table near the chairs and then leaving.

"Get off me you fat pig! Get off!" Link continued to shout, to no prevail. Leon continued to sit on Link until everyone had got their own food and sat down again.

"Why did you wait so long to get off me?" Link asked watching Leon, who was selecting his own food and setting it on his plate

"Because, it means that everyone else is sitting down and eating. I get my food before you, you get up to get your food and I get the chair. No one else will be bothered to get up again and get you yours." The American smirked

Link grumbled and got up to walk over to the table to get his lunch, while the others watched the little display and Leon sat down in Link's chair. Zelda was watching what Link was choosing and noticed he was setting very wet or greasy foods that he didn't like, on to his plate.

"Link what are you up to?" She asked, suspecting something

"Nothing," he answered, trying to sound innocent

"I bet," Liam commented, sitting besides Zelda. Link briefly wondered why he was sitting so close to her, he found out when Maxi started to talk to her and Liam stole a piece of meat off her plate, hiding it under a piece of lettuce. As it was a hot day, the chef had decided to serve salad as no one would eat a large, hot meal in the midday sun; it was usual for people to like some meat with their salads so he cooked the meat and then let it go cold.

Link walked over to Leon and looked as if he was going to hit him for a moment, but sat on the arm of the chair instead.

"Glad you see sense in letting me sit here, Link."

"Mmm hmm," Link replied, eating the food on his plate that he did like. When Leon saw that he wasn't going to do anything, or rather it seemed he wasn't going to do anything, he relaxed and turned away. Which was a big mistake. Moments later Link stood up and very casually tipped his plate, so that the wet and greasy foods, slid straight into Leon's lap with a wet 'squelch'.

Leon stared down at his lap, his mouth hanging open shock and then turning his head to look at Link, who had walked back over the table, to select a few cakes as a dessert. The American walked over to Link, grabbed him back the neck, dragged him over to conservatory doors and pushing them open, then dragging Link to a nearby fountain... and pushing him into it.

Link immediately jumped out of the fountain and onto Leon's back, the two then fell onto the floor and fought for a while.

"Hey look at that, dinner and a show," Liam commented.

"Are they actually angry with each other, or just playing?" Yunsung asked

"They're just playing," Liam answered, before completely taking Zelda's plate and eating her lunch.

"How d'you know?" Maxi asked

"They're not punching each other, if they start, that's a sign to separate them."

"OK! OK!" Leon shouted "You can have the damned chair!"

"Ahah! Victory is mine," Link shouted triumphantly "but you can have it for now, while I go and change my clothes." He stated, pulling off his boots, tunic and undershirt and walking towards his room. Zelda's eyes seemed to be stuck to the sight of Link without his shirt on.

"Zelda, you know I love you and everything, but can you please stop staring, you're making me uncomfortable."

Zelda blushed pure crimson, tearing her eyes away from Link and focusing on her plate, until she realized she didn't have it because Liam was holding it and had cleaned it off for her.

"Thank you for eating my lunch Liam."

"You're welcome your royal pervertedness," he sniggered

She pushed him off the chair and he landed with a thud on the floor "At least I'm in control of my saliva when I ogle at a guy, Mr. 'oh my goddesses, look at the chest on her and I can't stop drooling over her'."

"Hey, that's not true..." Leon stated, Zelda turned to look at him "Everyone knows Liam is an 'ass' man."

Liam merely stuck his nose up in the air, closing his eyes. Leon slid into the nearby chair and started to try and dry out his t-shirt which had got splashed by the water when he pushed Link into the fountain, of course his back was soaked too and his ministrations to the front only made the patches bigger. With a sigh he pulled the t-shirt off, using it to wipe his lap clean, before it looked like he had really got excited and lost control of himself.

"Look Zelda! Leon hasn't got his shirt on. Drool, princess, drool," Liam stated, pointing to Leon. Zelda briefly looked at him before turning to Liam and saying "I know that you have homosexual tendencies Liam and that _you_ want to drool over him, but _I_ don't."

"Yeah right," he muttered

Leon was watching the display with mild amusement, a smirk written across his face. The two Hylians childish banter could get a bit farfetched, but it was always meant in fun. Link walked in a couple of seconds later in a dark blue tunic and dry under shirt and leggings.

"Right, Leo. Shift your backside out of that chair," Link commanded

Leon merely looked at him "Don't call me Leo, you know I hate it."

"Which is exactly why I did it, now move, or do you want a second lap full of crap?"

Leon ignored him. Link walked over to the American, slipped an arm round his back, the other under his legs, and amazingly picked him up off the chair and then walked to the door, dropping the 26 year old man outside and shutting the door on him.

"That wasn't very nice Link," Zelda chided. Link shrugged and sat in the chair.

"So this is life in Hyrule, huh?" Raphael spoke up; it was the first thing he had said to anyone since he finished telling his story.

"I take it that by that, you mean 'I'm not impressed' or 'why are you people so childish'," Zelda asked

"In a word, yes."

"Well monsieur Sorel, you haven't seen the usual activities of castle life in Hyrule and you seem to fail to realize that Leon, Link, Liam and I are just trying to relax with all the tension that's in Hyrule at the moment."

"No they're not, they're like this all the time, but they just want to enjoy their lives, that's all," Impa commented

No one had noticed that Impa was in the room, the other worlders just figured that she was a slightly higher servant than the others were and that she had left a while ago. She had in fact been half-hiding near the food and eating whilst sizing the newcomers up.

"When did you come back in?" Yunsung asked.

"I never left," the Sheikah woman replied "but I will do now." she walked out the door to attend to some business.

Maxi, Yunsung, Siegfried and Raphael had been surprised to hear her voice an opinion like that, surely a servant shouldn't make those sorts of comments. They were also slightly confused about her appearance.

The woman looked to be in her 40's. She had shortish grey hair, tied back in a pony tail. She was tall and quite well built and wore somewhat revealing clothing. A pair of blue shorts with a breastplate, gloves and boots. The strangest thing about her though, was that she had red eyes.

"Who is she?" Maxi asked

"That would be Impa, she's my nursemaid and she's looked after me since I was a baby," Zelda replied

"Ok, fine. But what's with the red eyes?"

"Impa is one of a few survivors of a race called the Sheikah. There is only a total of about 500 Sheikah left in the world. They are a race of what is known as 'shadow warriors' for the reasons that when they are around they are silent like shadows and hide like them. They use stealth above all else and have been a great asset to Hyrule in times of war. The Sheikah are destined to serve the royal family of Hyrule. However, most Sheikah were wiped out in the war that started 25 years ago and ended 17 years ago.As for their eyes, all the Sheikah have red eyes" Zelda explained

The others listened intently to her words, learning about part of Hyrule's races.

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A.N: Thank you to the 1 person, who reviewed chapter 3, during the week that I put it up. And of course, a thank you to those who bothered to review at all. Chapters updates may slow down later on due to the fact that my computer deleted everything, so it all has to be written again after chapter 7.


	5. Memories

Chapter 5: Memories 

Leon walked in about 2 seconds later, dressed in a white t-shirt and blue jeans. He looked at Link

"Right, you pointed eared little freak...no offence Zelda and Liam, we are going to have a go at it to see who gets the chair," Leon stated

"Umm...no, we're not. I have a couple of animals to attend to, as do you and then I was going to show this lot," Link gestured to the other worlders "around Hyrule, if they wanted to see all the land," Link replied

"Sure, why not?" Maxi stated

"Right, I'll see you later then." Link got up and walked to the door "I'll come with you," Leon stated, following

"What animals?" Yunsung asked

"Well, pets I suppose you could say, come and see them if you want," Link answered

Link, Liam and Leon all had a love of animals. As a result they had somehow managed to get the king to let them keep several pets, other than horses or dogs.

Link had a couple of horses in the stables, although Epona was his favourite, as well as a kestrel and falcon and a few rabbits for some reason. Liam had somehow got his hands on a 'tame' wolf and in contrast, a raven. Leon also sharing the two younger men's love of birds had 3 birds similar to myna birds, called Hylian night stars and had adopted a wild horse that him and Link had found by death mountain on, well death's door and had rescued the poor creature.

As well as the separate animals they owned, there were a few very rare animals that they shared along with the King, Zelda and Impa.

Link and Leon explained this to Maxi, Yunsung and Siegfried as they walked towards the pasture where the animals were kept. Liam had gone to sort out a small incident between some guards, because he was captain of the guards, so Link was going to attend to the animals for him. Raphael had, unsurprisingly, gone off on his own to see how Amy was doing and Zelda had a meeting to attend to with her father, while Impa had wandered off to attend to Sheik. (Yes, he's there too and he's not Zelda in disguise, he's Impa's son in this fic).

"Leon, go on ahead and I'll catch up with you in a minute. I've just gotta get the horses out," Link said to him

They had to pass through the stable yard area to get to the pasture and buildings to get to the other animals. Leon nodded and continued to lead the others onwards, chatting to them and answering their questions as best as he could, he wouldn't however say what the rare animals were though, despite how much they pressed.

"Look, I'm just not going to tell you OK, so drop it, you'll see once we've attended to the other animals," he told them once again, beginning to become irritated.

They stopped at the end of the stable yard while Link ran up to them, a load of keys in his hand and four horses behind him, held by a rope in the other hand. One of the horses was Epona.

They started again and walked round a corner and through a small gate to where the animals were and the new comers looked at the area and the contrast it made to the rest of the castle grounds that they'd seen

It was a huge area of open land, the grass trimmed short, with wooden fences and netting and gates around the individual animals areas. Weeds were starting to creep up on the fences and wiring of the different sections. At the far side of the area was a very large pond. Up against the back of the castle and over the trickle that was supposed to be a moat was a bridge and a few hutches, stable boxes and sheds. The whole area was closed off, far in the distance, by the mountains and hills in either side of the castle. A couple of large aviaries stood in several of the fields.

Link strolled down to the further, larger field and let the horses loose. He walked back up and beckoned to the others to come and look at the animals. The fields all had paths in between them to make it easier for the young men, for the most part, to get to the animals enclosures.

The enclosures were in four separate lots. A wide, long, strip of aviary for Link's birds and a couple of extra fields for other animals.

A large strip of plain field for Leon, just in case he got any other animals, as he kept his birds inside and the horse in a field with Link's.

A large aviary for Liam's Raven, although really it was too big and he needed a few more birds in it, and a very large cage set on the grass, with an open floor for the wolf.

After that, there was a large field, about the length and width of all the other three sections put together, for the horses. Then there was the pond with a fountain in it and behind that a large stone wall with a high gate in it, that spanned the entire width of the personal animals and working animals put together. The working animals pasture was adjacent to the 'pets' area but with a large hedge in between the two.

The group walked up to where Link was standing by an aviary. It was covered at one end to give the birds a place to shelter and sleep. Link opened the door and walked inside, ducking under the canopy of branches and leaves and then whisteled sharply. Two birds came swooping down to him. The smaller one hopped onto his shoulder while the other sat on his hand, he walked out of the aviary, holding the two.

"Cool," Yunsung stated as Link walked out with the birds. The smaller bird sitting on Link's shoulder was a typical kestrel. She had a blue head, brown wings and back and a white front, her beak was small and yellow, tipped with black. She swung her head round to look at the new, unfamiliar people and watched them, her sharp, dark eyes never leaving their faces for long.

"This," Link said gesturing to the bird on her shoulder "is Kestrel, called that, of course, for the obvious reason that she is a Kestrel." Kestrel fluttered her wings slightly and let out a sharp 'Kee'. The other bird sitting on Link's left hand was larger, but more coloured. Link was unsure as to what kind of falcon this one was but, it didn't really matter anyway, although it was definitely only native to this world.

The bird was white, with a red tail and a slightly grey, almost silver, head; it had a short curved yellow beak and sharp clawed yellow feet. The edges of its wings were a pale blue and its chest was speckled with grey, blue and the occasional spot of black. Each wing was almost 30cm wide when fully stretched out, while Kestrel's wing span was 20cm each.

"And this is Swift, so called because he is." Link lifted the bird up slightly and it let out a small screech, before, fluttering impatiently to be released for a little while.

Link threw his hand into the air letting 'Swift' fly off; he shrugged his shoulder to get Kestrel to fly off. Leon watched, making sure that they didn't go to far, while Link tidied the cage a bit and fetched a few dead mice in a small bag from a pot which acted like a freezer and left a few inside the cage and fetched some fresh water for them.

Yunsung, Maxi and Siegfried watched as the birds glided through the air, Kestrel turned round and headed back to the group after seeing Link fetch her food out.

She landed on Yunsung's shoulder and then hopped down to his hand, making small screeching sounds occasionally, whilst waiting for Link to feed her. Yunsung looked down at her then gently stroked her chest feathers

"I think she likes you," Leon commented, taking his eyes off Swift for a second, to look at the bird sitting on Yunsung's hand.

"Here," Link said handing a mouse to Yunsung, and watching him feed the bird, she fluttered to everyone's hand after a while, inspecting the unfamiliar people and then was carried back into the cage by Link. Swift, hung in the air watching the scene and then decided he wanted some attention, so he flew to Maxi and like Kestrel, everyone else in turn before going to Link to be fed and put back in his cage with his friend. He immediately flew to the top most branches and preened himself. Kestrel sat on the side of the cage, talons hooked over the wire while she looked at the people again, before flying into her nest box.

(I don't know much about birds of prey so their actions will probably be wrong so don't ask me for info on them, I only know about normal domestic animals)

Link walked away from the cage after bolting the door.

"You probably won't be bothered about my other pets. Horses and rabbits are the only other things I've got."

"Well, we'll come and see them anyway, or at least I will," Maxi stated

They followed Link to the opposite end to the birds. Where a run sat with a hutch and 4 rabbits inside, each one was a different colour. There were two males and two females in the run, presumably they had been neutered somehow other wise there would be only one male (living anyway) and a lot more baby bunnies.

The first rabbit was black, turning a reddish brown and quite large, it was half lop one ear up one ear down. The large ruff of fur around its neck indicated that it was a female. She was laying in the shade, fully stretched out, the 2 tiny front paws almost crossed and the two larger back legs flicked out behind her.

The next rabbit was another female, but smaller than the other. She was sitting on her back legs, looking at the humans, her front paws hanging down in front of her. She was a beautiful, silky silver grey, with a black and white tail, and white belly. Her grey ears, tipped with black swivelled around, while her nose twitched. She hopped forwards to the front of the cage and sniffed curiously at the people. At the back of her neck there was a pure white patch.

Another rabbit sat nearby, nibbling at the grass on the floor, a male this time shown by the lack of the ruff of fur on the neck. He looked more like a hare than a rabbit. He had a far more pointed face than the others in the run and much larger back feet. Like the first female though, he had one ear up and one ear down. He was a light, sandy brown colour, with the two front paws white, like little socks and an off centre triangle of white fur on his chest. He suddenly looked up and sprinted towards the other end of the run, flicking his back legs to the side while he did so that he kind of turned 360 degrees and then turned and sat near the grey female, looking at the men.

The last rabbit was right up in the far corner, grooming himself. He was an off white colour with grey ears and nose and completely lop eared.

Link gestured to the black rabbit, who was still stretched out. "This is Phoebe, the grey is Holly, the brown one is Hazel, don't get confused by the name, it is a boy and the whitish one is Smokey, because of his nose and ears."

"Why do you have rabbits as pets?" Siegfried asked, unimpressed by the animals' cuteness. Apparently he didn't think much of animals with an 'awww' factor

"I honestly don't know...I think it was a bet with Liam that I could get the king to let me have them," Link answered, shrugging his shoulders.

He walked away from the run down to Liam's animals. He walked into the aviary and was met with a very angry 'CAW'. A Raven sat on a high branch, glaring down at Link. As quickly as possible Link changed the food and water and grabbed a few stray feathers off the floor and then ran out and closed the door behind him as the bird dived for him.

"That is Jet and as you can tell, he doesn't like me and I don't like him much to be honest, I don't actually like birds like Crows and Ravens at all."

"I had a pet Raven, I'll have you know...you're probably just not treating him right." Siegfried shrugged

Link lifted an eyebrow and walked away

"And now we have Fang," Link said walking to the large metal cage.

Inside was a large wolf, lying in the shade and looking up at the men with big brown eyes. He wasn't aggressive at all, he had a slightly puppy like look about him. He was a greyish – white colour with brown paws.

Link opened the door and stepped inside. Almost immediately 'Fang' rushed up to him and let out a noise somewhere between a bark and a howl and began licking at Link's face.

"And Liam called him 'Fang'? He's acting like a puppy," Maxi spoke up

"Yeah well, Liam didn't know what he was like at the time he named him."

Fang rushed out of the cage suddenly and went to sniff at Yunsung, who was backing away. Leon called Fang over to him at seeing Yunsung's nervousness and fussed over the tame wolf, stroking him and eventually throwing a ball for him to fetch. It was like playing with a normal pet dog.

After a few minutes Fang was safely in his cage again, although now he was staring at Link and Leon with a kind of woe-begone and pleading look, as if to ask them to let him out again. The men turned away, the feeling of Fang's eyes on them boring into the back of their necks.

Ignoring the unpleasant, guilty feeling he was getting, Link walked away from fang and passed the field with the horses in, and around the pond to the large wooden gate set in the stone wall. He fetched a key out of his pocket and put it in the lock and turned it, unlocking the door. As he was about to go through a hand came to rest on his shoulder, the hands finger's wrapped in bandages.

Link turned around, already knowing who it was.

"Sheik, why do you always sneak up like that, can't you say something to announce your presence?" Link, asked, fed up of Sheik's 'sneaking' tactics.

"I could...but it wouldn't be half as much fun as watching you get annoyed," the Sheikah answered, shrugging a shoulder, a smirk on his face beneath the face cover.

The others turned to look at the new young man that had appeared. They noticed, with some surprise that he had the red eye on his chest that Impa had on her clothing.

"And this is...?" Yunsung asked

"This is Sheik, Impa's son. He'll be accompanying us when we go to fight Ganondorf and his allies," Link answered

"Why?"

"Because, he's a trained warrior and Impa and the king insist that he comes with us."

"What did you want anyway, Sheik?" Leon asked, standing at the back of the group

"Nothing really, I was just looking for something to do...and I wanted to have a look at the animals, seeing as how my training is done for a couple of hours."

Link nodded and opened the large gate, ushering the group inside and then locking the door behind him.

The inside of the compound was amazing.

"This is where the Royal Family keeps the rarer animals of Hyrule, which very few people are allowed to see. Most of the animals are supposed to be myths." Link explained to the stunned group.

A lake, about half the size of Lake Hylia, was in the direct centre of the area, trees and flowers surrounded it and ivy grew up the walls made by hills, which protected the area. Across the top of the whole area was netting, to stop the birds from flying away. Huge trees stretched up to the netting and creeping plants wrapped themselves round, the leaves creating shade for the animals. A large stone stable block stood by the entrance to the compound, each door embossed with a golden Triforce and a silhouette of the animal that was supposed to be in there.

The animals themselves were running about the grassy area, ignoring the visitors or not realizing they were there. All of the creatures however, were all legendary, mythical even.

A group of Unicorns intermixed with Pegasus' stood in around the lake, grazing gently or looking for signs of danger. A Unicorn and Pegasus spotted the group of visitors and they wandered over casually, sniffing for any signs of danger.

The Pegasus trotted up to Sheik and nuzzled against him, while the Unicorn walked over to Link. It attempted to rub its forehead against him but almost stabbed him with its horn, so it rubbed its nose against his hand instead. Both the horse based creatures were stunningly crisp white; while the manes and tails were silver as well as the Pegasus' wings, while the Unicorns had a more golden colour to their horns.

Suddenly a bird piped a rather strange and eerie song. The group looked over to see a Phoenix, sitting on a branch, looking at them. Its feathers as expected were gold and crimson and they shimmered in the sunlight that was streaking through the gaps in the leaves.

"Where did you find these animals? They're supposed to be mythical," Siegfried stated, looking around

"I'm not sure we just brought them here when we did find them, I can't remember where it was," Link answered, stroking the Unicorns head. A few Griffins sat around the edges of the pond, casually chewing meat, a somewhat darkened Phoenix with silver and black feathers flew over to the normal coloured one. Hippogriff's and Thestrals stood around fluttering their wings.

"What are these creatures? I've never seen these before," Maxi asked gesturing at the array of unusual creatures.

"Well, you know the Phoenixes, Unicorns and Pegasus' already I presume," Link stated

They all nodded in answer.

"The one's that are half lion and half eagle are Griffins, the ones with the head and wings of an eagle and the back legs of a horse are Hippogriffs and the black skeleton horses with dragon heads and bat wings are Thestrals."

"I've never heard of Thestrals before," stated Yunsung

"Not many people have. And you can only see them if you have seen death a.k.a, someone dying"

"So they're a bit like grim reaper horses, only they don't take life away?"

"I suppose you could say that, yes."

"And now, we have a lot of people's favourites," Link stated sarcastically, leading the way to a very, very large cave that was covered by leaves

"Maxi, you might be more interested in these than anyone else," Leon stated, picking up a torch and bringing out a lighter to set the ball of cloth soaked in oil, on fire.

Everyone followed suit and followed Link into the cave.

It was, obviously, dark inside the cave. Water dripped from the roof, stalagmites and stalactites grew from the floor and roof, stretching down and up, the stalagmites dripping with water. The walls of the cave glittered with rock crystals and the occasional chunk of ores.

The floor of the cave was littered with bones of cows, wildebeest, the odd horse and even one human skeleton. There was a slight stench of rotting flesh in the air and burning, but the air was horrifically stale and cold. Rats the size of rabbits scurried along the floor, squeaking in panic and fear. And there was a faint sound of roaring in the air and...fire crackling in the distance.

Link slowed, and gestured for the others to do the same, his breathing slightly uneven, possibly anxious, because he knew what dangerous creatures lay ahead.

He turned around to look at the men behind him, shadows and light dancing across his features. He spoke, his voice slightly uneven and less confident than usual.

"I want you to do exactly as I say when we get further down. For now I need you to make as little noise as possible."

He turned around again, and got his slightly heavy breathing under control, so that he was making almost no noise at all, apart from the occasional creaking of leather when he moved. He began walking again, eyes darting around and ears pricked for sounds of danger, muscles tensed in case he had to run.

Link was in the lead of the group, with Maxi, Siegfried and Yunsung behind him then Leon and Sheik. Leon walked to the front to help Link see with the extra light from Leon's torch.

Maxi, Yunsung and Siegfried had noticed Link's uneasiness as well as Leon's; they looked behind them at Sheik, who was in a similar condition but trying to hide it. They tensed, knowing by the experienced three's reactions that they were going into dangerous territory and what ever lay ahead, could therefore kill them easily.

They carried on walking, the smell growing fouler, the air growing heavier, the noises from whatever creatures ahead growing louder, the tension growing to a level so intense that you could probably cut it with the warriors' swords. The temperature was growing too, heating up the warriors.

Link stopped again, turning round and addressing them.

"Now, we're going to go in twos. Maxi and I will go first, then Leon and Siegfried, then Sheik and Yunsung, with a 10 minute gap in between us, unless of course we come back. If we do it's a signal to run at top speed to the exit. We probably won't need to but it's just in case.

Leon and Sheik will fill Siegfried and Yunsung in on what you need to do while you are waiting here, OK." the group nodded and Link and Maxi walked on, disappearing into the shadows ahead.

"Yunsung and Siegfried, listen carefully to what we're about to tell you," Leon began

"Not to put too fine a point on it, but the creatures ahead are extremely dangerous," Sheik filled in

"You must keep absolutely silent, when we first go in. Make sure you do not show any fear at all..."

"Ok?" Link said to Maxi as they walked in the darkness, towards the centre of the cave, where the creatures lay.

"Fine," Maxi answered

Link set his torch down in a holder, along with Maxi's. The entrance was a few feet ahead; they slowly walked towards it, holding their anxiousness back as they walked into the room with the creatures in.

Yunsung and Siegfried waited patiently for their turn to come, trying to still their hearts a bit. Even this far away the creatures could pick up fear, and it could endanger Link and Maxi's lives. Sheik and Leon were standing a couple of feet in front of them, listening intently for any signs of danger coming from the tunnels ahead, senses fully heightened through tension. Leon glanced down at his watch, Link and Maxi had been gone for three minutes and suspense was increasing, in seven minutes it was going to be ready to explode, which would not be good. Sheik took in a breath, nerves strained. Leon let out a soft breath, resting a slightly trembling hand against the wet wall. He had taken on creatures as dangerous as this before, but it was somehow different now. The feelings of apprehension and fear for not only himself, but friends, weren't a stranger to him...but he still didn't like it. It brought back memories, ones that should be happy for ever, but were now painful.

He closed his eyes and breathed in deeply and his mind wandered.

'_A young man, barely twenty drove into the dilapidated city...Raccoon city. The sky was dark, the buildings on fire, the streets cluttered with none moving cars...and there were no people, not one.'_ Leon snorted to himself as he remembered that day, his first day on the force as a rookie cop...and what a miserable one at that.

'_The man climbed out of his car, inspecting the city. He looked around and noticed, a woman lying on the floor and not in great condition either. In fact, she looked like death warmed over. That was probably due to the fact that she was dead though. He walked towards the corpse and looked down, he was about to bend down to find what had happened when the woman grabbed his ankle. He jumped, not expecting it. She hadn't been breathing, and she had been as pale as snow...she still was. She opened her mouth, he expected her to talk, but all that came out was a groan. She suddenly lunged for his ankle and to his horror, she tried to bite him. He backed off, ripping his ankle free of her grasp, she stood up and shuffled towards him, her arms outstretched towards him. Jaw, opening and closing, saliva dripping from every tooth'_ That was how it had started. In all of Leon's wildest dreams, no, nightmares, he had never thought he would encounter flesh eating zombies, and genetically engineered bio-weapons, such as hunters, tyrants, lickers and a Nemesis . Then again he had never thought he would fall in love with two women on one day, Ada Wong and Claire Redfield. But Ada had died and four years later, he had married Claire Redfield.

It wasn't the memories of seeing the zombies for the first time that were painful. Or even the memory of Ada dying, he had got over that 2 months after she had died, realizing that she had used and lied to him. No, it was the memories of his first encounter with Claire Redfield that hurt. The memories of proposing, of getting married, spending their first Christmas as a married couple, being welcomed into the family by Chris, Claire's elder brother, of seeing their newborn daughter for the first time and seeing her first birthday, hearing her speak her first word. These were the memories that hurt him. Because he would never see those he loved above all else again.

Leon Scott Kennedy had disappeared about 2 years after he and Claire had married. He had been specially trained by a secret organization, working for the government after Raccoon City and he had become a special agent of sorts. When the new president had come to power in America, it had been Leon's job to protect his family throughout the day. His main charge was the president's daughter Ashley, who had been kidnapped sometime after Leon had started protecting her. But she had been kidnapped during the night, when he was at home with his family.

He had left early, the morning after her kidnapping, sharing a clipped goodbye with his family and friends who had seen him off, not knowing how long he'd be gone. He had travelled to the backwaters of Spain and had rescued the girl, she had got away safely, but the escape had not gone to plan and Leon became stranded in that village of homicidal maniacs and a troll. All out for his blood. He had been forced to run and in his panic hadn't realized the portal to Hyrule was there. He passed through it, and it had closed behind him, with no way to get back to his family and the world in which he belonged.

"Yunsung to Leon, do you copy?" Yunsung asked waving his hand in front of Leon's face

"What?" Leon asked with some agitation in his voice

"You kind of zoned out for a minute there, we wanted to make sure you were still with us."

"I was just thinking, that's all."

Maxi stared down at the creatures below him, dumbstruck.

"Beautiful aren't they?" Link asked

"D-d-d-d-Dragons?" Maxi stuttered "Y-y-yeah, they're magnificent" he said finding his voice

The pit below was full of shining jewels and gold and other such treasure. The walls glittered and glimmered. But nothing could be considered treasure more than the Dragons below. About 6 dragons lay there, bodies intertwined. They were more startling than anything else Maxi had ever seen before.

One of the dragons suddenly looked up, noticing the intruders, but instead of roaring in rage it sniffed at them curiously and Link stretched out a hand and crouched down. The dragon sniffed him again and moved closer. Link kept still and the dragon turned its massive head so that his hand was lying on its nose. Link and Maxi smiled. The 4 of the other 5 dragons noticed too and came to have a look at the intruders, they were curious, yet gentle, which showed how misunderstood they really were.

The last dragon lay on its side in a corner, its tail cuddling something close to its belly to keep it warm. This particular dragon was the largest and different shades of green. It had large, yellow eyes and its body was rippled with muscle underneath its glinting green scales. It had a very dark green head and back, as well as the tops of all four legs. Its belly and under neck was a lighter, more yellowish green. The wings that were crumpled at its back were similar to bats wings and dark green along the bone and progressively getting lighter in colour down the membrane between.

None of the dragons had been given names, but there was a name on the tip of each of the two men's tongues that suited the dragon perfectly.

Link and Maxi looked at each other and nodded. "Viridris," they both whispered simultaneously. The dragon looked up at the men and seemed to nod as if to say 'Yes, that's my name'

The other dragons all had similar patterns on them, a lighter underneath and wing membranes, with a darker top scales and upper legs.

The dragon that was sitting near Link, and had his hand resting on its nose was purple, there was a completely blue one, a blue with a yellow underneath, a red one with yellow underneath and a completely black one with bright green eyes, while the rest had yellow.

Link looked curiously at Viridris, seeing that it hadn't moved in the slightest. The dragon in front of Link, the purple one, seemed to sense his curiosity and concern; it let out a rumble to 'Viridris' communicating with it.

"I wonder what their names are," Maxi said. At that the red and yellow dragon came forward and pushed him back gently with its nose. It then proceeded to gouge markings, deep into the rock platform on which he and Link were and look at this," Maxi said, looking at the markings, once the dragon had finished. "Do you know what it says?"

"Yeah, it says 'Blaze' in ancient Hylian and then it has a sign that says it's a male." the dragon nodded and then carved five other words into the rock. Each dragon came and stood in front of a word apart from 'Viridris' whose name 'Blaze' had carved with a female sign beside it. The four other dragons were named: 'Skyla' the purple, a female

'Eragon' the blue and yellow male

'Sapphira' the completely blue female

and 'Murtagh' the black male

Skyla then gently picked Link up and Eragon picked Maxi up, placing them in front of Viridris. She looked at the two nervous men and moved her tail back and revealed an egg, which was wobbling slightly. Link and Maxi stood, awed. Then Leon and Siegfried edged into the room. The dragons attention snapped straight to them and Link thought 'We're gonna die'

A strange buzzing filled his head suddenly, like someone's thoughts, burying into his own mind. He realized that the experience was similar to talking to the Deku Tree, so he listened intently, to realize it was Viridris talking to him. He looked to Maxi, with 'can you hear her too?' written on his face. Maxi nodded

"_You need not be afraid, nor your friends. We will not hurt you. There are others waiting, aren't there? Call them here, we will show you the birth of our kind" _The dragons voice hummed through his mind

"_How can we trust you though?" _hethought

"_We will not harm you. Call them" _She repeated

Link nodded and broke away from the contact to speak to Leon and Siegfried, who were looking scared.

"It's OK. They're not going to hurt us. Get Yunsung and Sheik, quickly."

"Why?"

"Just do it."

Leon shrugged and turned running to get the other two, left waiting

"Sieg, come down here, it's safe."

He sighed and slid down into the pit. One of the dragons, Skyla, sniffed at him.

The sound of three people began to fill the room and Sheik, Yunsung and Leon appeared soon after.

They slid down into the pit after being contacted by each of the dragons.

Yunsung was ignored for the most part. The dragons seemed to be able to tell the humans personalities instantly and though they were amused by him, they seemed to think him very silly and childish. Sheik was studied for a while, being as he was one of the very rare remaining Sheikah, but the person they seemed most interested in was Leon. They studied him at length, and seemed to contact him a lot and they hummed softly, once they had finished.

Viridris suddenly gave a soft growl and the men stepped back. She removed her tail from around the egg as it began to wobble continuously and cracks began to appear. A piece of egg was suddenly chipped from the top of the egg and a small green and black nose poked itself out of the hole. Little by little, the hole widened and after ten minutes of heroic struggling a small baby dragon eased itself out of the egg with a weak cry.

The baby's back was black, while its underneath was a dark green. And Murtagh moved to by Viridris, obviously the proud father of a baby dragon.

The baby growled slightly, licking itself clean and stretching its crumpled black and green wings.

Viridris looked at the humans standing if front of them and spoke to them again.

'_We name him Soryuju'_

Maxi looked slightly confused "Soryuju, that's the name I gave my nunchaku. A strange name to give a baby dragon considering what it means."

"And what does it mean?" Leon asked

"Gathering of revived dragons."

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A.N: God, I am SORRY. I am SO Sorry, I don't know what possessed me to put this in the story and in the end I didn't want to delete an entire chapter. Forgive me. I beg you! Oh, and I'm sorry about the whole Leon thing too, I'm kind of hyped about Resident Evil at the moment, I just got Remake and Resi 4's coming out soon, and Leon is just...aaawww!

Ahem. Anyway. All other notes as before. Updating every monday, yada, yada yada. Review please


	6. Whatever happens, happens

A.N: Same as usual. Thanks to my friends yada, yada, yada.

Chapter 6: What ever happens, happens

It was a while before the humans could force themselves to move away from the magnificent company, as they were intrigued. It was Leon who finally made the movement to go, saying that they had training to do as well as making preparations and showing the new comers the rest of Hyrule.

Link; however had the feeling that it had nothing to do with that. He realized why he was anxious to leave with a jolt.

'_It's his daughter's birthday, and this is bringing back memories which he wants to forget'._

Realizing this, Link got to his feet, giving the others a sign with his eyes which said '_It would be for the best, I'll explain later'_

The group reluctantly got up and saying a quick goodbye to the dragons, and promising to return soon, they left.

While Yunsung was loudly complaining and protesting, with the occasional not-so-subtle hint that he thought Leon was scared, they relit their torches and began to walk to the entrance of the cave, so that they could leave.

Maxi and Siegfried walked silently side by side, and throwing a few glances towards Leon which clearly said _'Why do we have to go? Why did you have to stop us enjoying ourselves?'_

Sheik walked behind the group, watching everybody, judging what they were feeling from the looks and glances they were giving Leon, most of which were annoyed glances and looks.

Link walked beside Leon, wondering what should be said to him and the others.

Leon walked silently, staring straight ahead and clearly thinking about something that pained him.

Daylight reached them as they came to the mouth of the cave, and they dropped their torches, putting them out once they reached the outside.

"Uhh, I, um, have things to see to and birds to sort out so, erm, I'm going to head off now. I'll see you at dinner." Leon muttered and then scurried off hurriedly

Sheik excused himself promptly as well and hurried off to continue his training with Impa.

Link was left standing with Yunsung, Maxi and Siegfried.

Maxi gave him a pointed look. "Well?"

"What?" Link asked

"Why did you drag us out of there because of Leon, couldn't you have let him go and we could have stayed there?"

"I could, but he's right. We do have things to do and I didn't want him to go out on his own, thinking that we don't care."

"But we don't." Yunsung answered

"Just because he was scared, doesn't mean we were." Siegfried stated, Maxi and Yunsung nodding in agreement

"He wasn't scared, you don't understand." Link replied and began to lead them out of the area

"Leon's seen scarier things than dragons, and he was at ease with them...it's just memories that are coming back to him."

The three other men gave him a questioning look

"Listen, let's go for a ride out on Hyrule field and I'll explain then."

"Fine."

Link locked the gate to the enclosure behind him and then grabbed Epona from the field she was in and went to the stables to saddle her up. Siegfried attended to Nightmare, who he had permission to handle, while Maxi and Yunsung chose their horses and the group set off.

It was about two o'clock in the afternoon when they got onto Hyrule field. The sky was still its usual blue and everything was pretty calm and quiet.

"So, we want some answers." Yunsung stated as they rode.

"You remember Leon said that he wandered through a portal and into Hyrule whilst he was on a job to rescue a girl, the president of the USA's daughter? Well, what he failed to tell you is about his family."

"Family?"

"Leon was married, to a woman called Claire. They had a daughter together a year after they married, her name was Sora. Leon told me about her and it turns out that today is her birthday. I think he just wanted to get away from the dragons because the baby was reminding him about the family he can never see again."

"So what, he has memories." Yunsung stated

"Yes, but a memory is a poor thing to have when it comes to people that you love and Leon never had much of a decent family life when he was growing up. His mother was fine with him, and so was his step sister. But his brother and his father didn't like him, or treat him fairly. Leon vowed not to be like his father and to treat his kids fairly. But because he's separated from them he feels like he's failed and let his family down."

"Oh, I see."

"It's not that he's moody or anything it's just that the current events are reminding him of things he'd rather forget, that's why I made us go with him. Because I don't want him to feel like no-one cares about him, but he obviously wants to be on his own at the moment. It's just so that he knows that there are people who are here for him."

Leon sat in his room, on his bed, his face in his hands, his shoulders shaking from the slight sobs he made every couple of seconds. A photo of his wife, Claire, sat on the nightstand next to the bed. The shutters were closed over the windows, the thick curtains drawn over them; this made the room very, very dark, which perfectly complimented his dreary mood.

The room Leon stayed in was of a fairly average quality (for a royal family), matching that of his former home in Washington, which was a very large flat.

The room was large, and had polished stone walls covered with large tapestries hanging over them to lessen the attention of the monotone grey.

There was a small fireplace in the direct centre of the wall opposite the bed. A door in the far left corner was closed and led to the adjacent bathroom. The large window stood opposite the door that you entered through.

A double bed sat in the direct centre of the left wall, covered in slightly patterned blue sheets. A bookcase, completely filled was to the right of the door and a wardrobe was in the far right corner.

In the top left corner of the room, next to the window was a very large bird cage, filled with small toys a bird could play with. In the cage were 3 sleek mainly black birds, but with their feathers slightly tinted with colour. The largest one had a green tint, the medium a blue tint and the smallest one a very slight purple tint. Each had a yellow streak over the eye and a yellow/orange beak, and a few white streaks, angling downwards, on their chests.

These were Leon's pet birds, the Hylian Night Stars. When he had lived in Washington and had first moved in, his mum and step sister had bought him pet birds to stop him getting lonely. Only they had bought two, a male and a female. Of course they weren't Hylian Night Stars, they were Myna birds and they had a knack for learning how to speak.

The two species were very similar and the HNS as they were called for short learned to speak too. Link, Zelda and Liam had bought them as a present for him. Two to be precise, Lyude and Savyna, one male, one female...which led to Kalas, the third one, being born.

They were of course talking to Leon as he sat there, crying quietly, because they only shut up once they had fallen asleep, which was usually after Leon let them out. And then as soon as they were out a servant would walk in...and the birds would fly out and the castle staff would end up chasing the birds for hours until they were exhausted and the birds would fly back to their cage automatically.

"What's the matter, Leon?" Savyna called...in a voice strangely similar to Zelda's. He looked up at her and then realized that Zelda was actually standing behind him and she had said it, not the bird.

"Uh, the usual." was Leon's heavy reply

Zelda knew what it was automatically and her eyes went to the picture of the beautiful brunette, Claire.

"Leon...I need to talk to you, and I want you to listen to me."

Leon turned round and looked at Zelda, he saw a gentle mixture of emotions on her face, but couldn't figure out what they were.

"Leon. I'm not going to tell you that you need to move on and find someone else, because I know you won't. I'm also not going to judge you in anyway over the matter. But...remember, even though you probably know this, Claire is in a similar state, I'm sure. I also know that she loves you as much as you love her and that she doesn't want you to be like this. I know that it's hard, but you need to cheer up. I hate seeing you like this, because you're one of my family members too. You're like an older brother to me and I just want to see you happy."

"Zelda...my daughter is going to grow up not knowing me. How can I be happy with that working against me?"

"By knowing that Claire will make it clear to her what you were like, and tell her about you all the time. Leon, you have family here as well, and we'll be here for you whenever you need us. Everyone who lives or works in this castle has lost someone in their lives, even me. So I know how you feel. But you haven't really lost them. I know it's a poor substitute, but you'll have memories and part of them will be in you're heart all the time." She gave him a gentle smile and whispered in his ear. "Perhaps you'll return to your world one day and be with them again." She walked to the door, ready to leave.

"Zelda" Leon's hoarse voice called "...Thanks, I know I can count on you, Link and Liam..."

He turned away, standing up opening the curtains and shutters to let the light and air back in.

Leon turned to the birds and Zelda watched him and them.

"I'll leave you alone then."

"Actually...I was going to go out for a ride and take them with me and try to find Link and the others...are you going to come with me?"

"Sure, let me change my dress and tell Impa and I'll be there ...meet you in the stables."

"K...c'mon guys." he opened the door and the birds flew out and sat on his bed, making peeping noises. He pulled a few leather cords out of a drawer and tied it on to each birds leg, then let the youngest, Kalas, settle on his right shoulder. The older birds flew to the door and hung above impatiently, squawking at him.

He sighed and opened the door and the birds flew out, Leon followed them and walked to the pasture where his horse was.

Leading the stallion back to its stable, he began to attend to him. Leon's horse, who he had named 'Thara', was an average looking animal about 15 hands. He was a light palomino/golden colour, with a flaxen mane and tail and a single white coronet marking with blue striped hooves, a strange marking type for the horses around Hyrule as most had completely white or black hooves. There were a few strange lines on his head though, a shade lighter than the rest of the hair on the horses head, but a distinct silver mark on its head, between the eyes.

(Author's note:coronet: a small area about an inch, just above the hoof, blue – a slate blue/black colour. Considered stronger than white hooves. If you'd care to know)

Apart from those markings the horse was very plain. It had a very slightly weak appearance about it, due to its former mistreatment and malnourishment.

It turned out that a man had made his home on Death Mountain for some reason, though no-one could quite figure out why. He had lived with his 5 year old daughter in a secluded cave. He had bought the horse for her as a birthday present, but hadn't had the facilities to take care of it. While she was sleeping one night, he took the horse deep into the mountains and released it.

However, due to the environment, there was nothing for the horse to survive on, with no food and water and no-one to give it the care it needed, the horse wandered through the chasms and trails of Death Mountain.

Link and Leon had found the dying animal a few weeks after it had been released, lying just inside the Dodongo's cavern entrance.

At that point its hooves had been so overgrown they had curled back on themselves and the horse could barely walk, the shoes had fallen off, so the hollow of the horse's hooves had been clogged with dirt, therefore becoming sore, irritated and blistered. His whole body had been covered in various gashes from rocks and predators, the mane and tail had become so tangled that they had to be partially cut off and its coat was matted and dirt covered, so much so that at first the two men had thought the horse was dark brown. The halter that 'Thara' had been wearing at the time, that the previous owner had forgotten to take off, had been so tight, that the rope he had used was cutting into the flesh of the horses face, and maggots were crawling around in the infected wound.

Despite all the horse had been through, though, he had warmed to his new owner and was very gentle towards everyone who approached it.

Leon slipped the bridle onto the horse's head, tightening it, but making sure that it didn't press on the scars left on the horses head.

The three birds were sitting inside the stable of another horse, trying to annoy it by pulling at its mane. The horse gave a snort of displeasure, making Leon look up from what he was doing.

"Knock it off, you three!" he called to the birds

Lyude looked up at him and then went back to pestering the horse. The mare, deciding she had had enough, reared up, sending the birds stumbling backwards.

The stable master walked up to Leon.

"I wish your birds wouldn't annoy her like that." He stated

"Well, I think that they've just learnt their lesson." Leon replied, looking at the princess who had just entered the stable yard.

"Hey, Zelda. Are you ready?" he asked

"Sure, just let me get Burmese ready!" she replied walking down the path

(AN: Queen Elizabeth II was given a black mare called Burmese by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, which was the queen's favourite ceremonial mount through the 1970's...which is where I got the name from, incidentally. A bit of British Royal Family knowledge for you)

About five minutes later Zelda came back with 'Burmese'.

After Leon spent a further five minutes trying to get the birds to stop pestering another horse, they set off at a light canter out onto Hyrule field.

Link, Siegfried, Yunsung and Maxi were riding leisurely through the plain of Hyrule, heading towards Lake Hylia, the first stop on the 'tour of Hyrule' as Yunsung had taken to call it. It was the peak of summer at the moment, and about 2 o'clock.

Link was dozing lightly in the hot sun, his eyes half closed. Maxi, Yunsung and Siegfried seemed to be discussing something; Soul Edge was the topic at the moment. Siegfried was trying to steer the conversation away from the subject, as it was uncomfortably closely related to his past. However, either fate or Maxi and Yunsung seemed to have a sadistic side and the inevitable question came up.

"But why and how did you murder your father and not realize it?" Yunsung asked,

Link's ears seemed to prick up at this point, his eyes opened and he turned to look at Siegfried as he struggled to make them lose interest.

"It's " he answered

"My hairy backside, it is." Yunsung stated, clearly not believing the German.

"Alright, I'll tell you. But I'd rather that you keep any judgements about me to yourself. I still, rather obviously, feel guilty over the fact of what I did."

The other three nodded

"A few years before I was born, a knight named Sir Friedrich lead an army of peasants in a revolt against the Roman Empire.

After tiring battles, the army rested in a town back inside Germany's borders. Sir Friedrich spent the night in a house with a woman and the inevitable happened. He left the next morning, saying he would return.

He left for sometime, fighting battles and leading armies in revolt against the people who caused problems.

He returned to the woman, named Margaret, after the battles, to find she had given birth to their child..."

"You." Link stated

Siegfried nodded and continued with his story, pulling his horse to a halt. "My mother and father married a few months later. As I grew up, my father taught me how to use and fight with a Zweihander. Unfortunately, he had other duties to attend to and without his guidance; I began to associate with the wrong type of crowds. The crowds and gangs my father fought against. Apart from the Roman Empire, of course.

I set up my own group of brigands, as you know, called the Schwarzwind and one day we heard about a group of soldiers, heading back from the battles against the Romans. Realizing that if we defeated them we could become rich and powerful, I decided to ambush the soldiers with my group. We attacked them and weak and tired as they were, they couldn't fight us for long. While my gang slaughtered the group, I sought out the commander and killed him myself."

"How?" Yunsung interrupted, seemingly wanting to know the gory details.

"I'll tell you if you shut up." Siegfried retorted

Yunsung huffed, but shut up so Siegfried could continue

"I decapitated him with my Zweihander. When he fell to the floor I picked up the head to show the group that we had victory...but as I did, the man's helmet fell off, and I saw that it was my father who I had killed."

"So what did you do?" Link asked from in front of them.

"Apparently I let out a horrified scream, I expect I would've but it's not important anymore. My mind snapped and I fled into the black forest. Driven by grief, I ran for days, until I was lost. When I finally stopped, I spent days in there on my own, and I grieved for my father. My insanity grew each day that passed, and through denial I came to believe that somebody else had killed my father. I then heard of Soul Edge and I became convinced that this was the weapon that I would avenge my father's death with."

"Ahhh, now I understand...and then you became Nightmare etc."

"Yes...though, I'm not proud of what I did."

"And what about your mother?" Maxi asked

Siegfried sat silently for a minute, deep in thought, before answering. "I haven't seen her since I murdered my father. I actually believe that she wouldn't want to see me, if she knew that it was me who murdered my father."

"How do you know that?"

"How would you react to your son, who you hadn't seen for 7 years, turning up on your doorstep? Especially knowing he had killed the person you loved and wanted to spend the rest of your life with?"

The three other men remained silent, thinking about how to reply. Link was the one who had finally broke the silence. "I'm not sure. Not having any children of my own and never having any parents, I'm not sure how I would feel towards my child. I do know how I would feel if someone killed Zelda...but I don't know if that someone was my child, someone you're supposed to love unconditionally.

The fact is...no-one here has a child. And I'm the closest thing to someone wanting to spend the rest of their life with someone. No-one here can judge, because we haven't got the emotions and love, therefore we can't possibly try to comprehend what your mother would feel."

Siegfried nodded.

"However, I'm fairly certain that she would like to see one of the men she loves again. So perhaps you should visit her and find out, maybe that way you can help yourself more, as well. It's all very well saying that you're trying to redeem yourself by helping me and my people...and possibly be forgiven by us. But that doesn't matter. The people who you need to forgive you are your mother and those you've hurt most. But most importantly, yourself." Link stated

"I don't think I can ever forgive myself after what I did."

"Then you'll never be fully redeemed."

"When did you get so wise?" Maxi asked

"I just matured quickly," was Link's reply "besides you have to be when you've got people like you around." he smirked as he said that last sentence "But Zelda is a lot wiser."

"Why thank you, Link." said a voice from behind the group of men

They turned around to see Zelda, sitting on a mainly black mare, with Leon beside her.

"What are you doing here?" Yunsung asked, turning towards Leon

"Scaling a mountain...What does it look like I'm doing?"

"No need to be sarcastic."

"Well, you asked an obvious question, how did you want me to answer?"

"........Whatever!" Yunsung said, turning away

"Anyway...I partly came here to let the birds stretch their wings properly and partly to apologise for earlier."

"You don't need to...Link explained to us, and I, in the least realize that it was wrong for us to judge you when weren't aware of all the facts." Siegfried spoke up

"Generous of you, I must say. But thank you anyway."

"What's got you so understanding?" Yunsung asked

Siegfried just looked at him, and then turned away, muttering something along the lines of "Stupid kid, what have we just been discussing?"

Maxi nodded along with the German's explanation. Yunsung shrugged and then stared curiously at the birds, which were sitting in Leon's lap.

"Hylian Night Stars." Leon stated "Similar to Myna birds."

"So these are your birds?"

"Yep, this is Lyude, Savyna and Kalas."

After he had finished pointing to each of the birds, he let them fly.

"I believe you were heading for Lake Hylia" Zelda stated. Link nodded and kicked Epona lightly again, to get her to move. The group moved off again, discussing various things, and the talk led to Ganondorf and his allies. While the warriors (Link, Maxi, Yunsung and Siegfried) supplied information about the enemies, Zelda supplied dates and info on the sages and when they'd appear to seal Ganon away, whilst Leon listened, pointing out errors in any plans that the group came up with. Leon wasn't to be in the battle against Ganon and his allies, or in the army fighting the Gerudos. No, he was guarding the princess when the battles were being fought and when she appeared with the sages to seal away the evil King. He had also been sent, by the King of Hyrule on stealth missions, to spy on the Gerudos movements and retrieve any information that the Gerudos and their king were hiding from the enemies.

"Okay so, let's do the easy bit first." Siegfried stated

"And that would be....?" Link asked

"The escape plan."

"Ok."

"All right. Do you have any plan of escape?" Leon asked

"Run." Link answered

"Anything more detailed?" Siegfried asked

"Run quickly."

"Smart ass." Maxi smirked,

"Well, all in all, we have this as a plan....leave Hyrule castle and kick Ganon's scrawny backside." Zelda commented "All I can say is this, whatever happens, happens...and no amount of planning will change fate's mind, one way or another, she'll have her way with us."

The talk continued, soon enough, however, they were approaching the gate to the lake, and they stopped their talk as the split up to jump the fences and ride down the narrow path to Lake Hylia.

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A.N: Again, apologies for the last chapter, with the dragons and stuff...I don't know what I did it for. I didn't have any bad reviews though so....I suppose it's OK.

To Lord Crimson: Uh, it's a good suggestion, though I don't know what I'll be able to do about it. But I think it would be pretty cool to see Siegfried take on a tyrant. I'll see what I can do.

Majin Darkfyre: Thanks for all your reviews so far, it is so greatly appreciated. As for my poem 'The Master Sword' um, I'm sorry if it was a little off to you, I wrote it , like, two years ago and I thought that I may as well put it up as it would be my first Zelda thing on this website.


	7. Running out of Time

A.N: Thanks to my friends Christine, Justine, Jenny, Marie (for their support) and especially Rosie for the time she spent correcting this story for me and the suggestions she's made.

Chapter 7: Running out of time

The sun was still high up in the air, when the group entered Lake Hylia. Half of Hyrule's citizens were there, bathing in the cool water and sunbathing on the grassy banks of the lake. Several children were running round, playing and shrieking in delight whilst young men chatted up and fought over young women. Several people looked up at the group as they entered on horseback, and nodded to the Princess, Link and Leon, and then turned to look at the unfamiliar humans. They examined them for a moment then lost interest and turned back to what they were doing before, although a few of the younger children or arrogant teenagers walked up to them.

Link whispered something to Maxi in Japanese and he chuckled, passing the message back to the rest of the group. Link looked down at the few young children clustered around Epona's legs and he dismounted, kneeling down to talk to them and answering their questions about the strange men that were with him. Knowing that the children would tell their parents about them, and the news would be passed around, he knew he wouldn't have to explain.

After a few minutes talking to the kids, they ran off and Link re-mounted Epona. The group stayed there for a further few minutes to let the new-comers take in the sight of Lake Hylia, and then moved off, saying they would come back when it wasn't as crowded.

They turned around and left while Leon called his birds back to him, and followed them out, taking up the rear.

"Nice place, I have to admit." Yunsung said when they were back on Hyrule field. Zelda smiled slightly as she checked her horse to jump a fence. Link nodded and Leon merely stroked his horses head.

"Link," Zelda called, slowing down to ride beside Link "We have to be back at the castle by 5 o'clock. Ganondorf is coming with his allies, and the king wants everyone who's involved with stopping them to be there."

"Whoa, wait a second." Maxi cried "You want _me _and _Astaroth to_ be in the same room, _without _killing each other on sight? It's not going to work. I'll tell you that now ,that it is _NOT going _to work. There's no WAY thats gonna work."

"Why not?"

"Because 1). Maxi is the only person to have ever defeated Astaroth and lived to talk about it, 2). Astaroth killed Maxi's crew and 3) Well, that's it really. Either way they hate each other and will rip each other to shreds." Siegfried answered

"You have to be there, Maxi. Everyone else will be there, and nothing will happen."

Maxi looked down and started muttering Japanese profanities under his breath, while Link laughed at him and the comments he was making to himself.

They trotted up the hills on their horses, heading back for the castle before Ganondorf got there, much to Link's dismay, who wanted to travel around his own country again.

It was about 4:30pm when they got back to the castle. As soon as the horses were back in the stables, they all went their separate ways, deciding to meet outside Link's room at ten to five and walk down to see the king and chat with him briefly. Zelda quickly excused herself from their company to bathe and change back into her 'official' princess dress. Link went to shower and change and meet up with Liam, who had finished with the guards by now. Leon went to put his birds away and check his guns and rest before they had to meet. Siegfried decided to shower and make sure his Zweihander was sharpened, although Maxi had said he needn't, because even if it wasn't sharp you could still kill someone with it by smacking them over the head. Maxi later got a slap upside the head for this, after he had went to work out and then shower. Yunsung decided to find Raphael, since no-one had seen him since dinner. Everyone could guess however that he was with Amy.

The teenager wandered through the corridors of Hyrule castle, trying to find the infirmary. Walking down a well lit passage he found very solid looking double doors at the end of it, with the faint smell of disinfectant coming from it. He smirked and pulled the door open slightly, to see a man in blue, sitting on the furthest bed in the room and holding a young girl up.

"So this is where you've been all day, Raphael." Yunsung said, striding over to him. He looked down to the girl in Raphael's arms; she was huddled against him and shaking. She was still very pale but a slight pink hint had come back into her skin and she was able to sit up and move around.

"Yes, but tell me, have you been exploring the magical wonder of Hyrule?" he bit out, a little more than sarcastically.

"Why are you so annoyed about being here? Amy is on the mend, I presume, so what's the problem?"

"I don't want to be here. I don't trust these people...they've been pleasant enough but...perhaps it's just me, but I don't trust people easily anymore. Probably the result of being betrayed by my own family. Paranoid, I know, but that is the way I am,"

Zelda lay back on her bed, breathing deeply, and wrapped up in her warm bath robe. She was dreading Ganondorf coming round again. The thing was, she couldn't understand why he was coming back. Oh, right. To stop a major war, that we will lose...but why does he care about that...

Link sat on the edge of the bath tub, smoothing his wet hair back from his face, having just come out of the shower. He grabbed a nearby towel and quickly dried himself with it, wrapping it around his waist and walking back into his bedroom. He pulled some clothes out of a drawer, cursing whoever had put them there and then sat on his bed to pull his clothes on.

Liam paced his room, absently swinging his sword by his side with each step. He was on edge about seeing Ganon back in the castle again. In fact, he realized, there was a definite tension in the air and it was growing by the minute again, actually, no one had relaxed since the 'evil king' had announced his attack. The fact that an entire army was looking to him to lead them into battle in about a week didn't make him feel any better. Zelda and Link were on edge too, and had taken showers and baths to 'cool off', as they put it. A good idea as it happened, he thought as he dropped his sword onto his bed and walked into the bathroom.

Leon stood by the window, holding a towel from his bathroom. One of his birds, Kalas, didn't want to go back in to the cage. _"Well I don't want to be reminded of Claire, but I am. And I'll be damned if I'm letting him stay out while Ganon's around."_

He lunged for the bird rather abruptly; landing with a hard thud on the floor and looking up to see Kalas, sitting a foot away from him, a sort of smirk seeming to play on his face.

Siegfried, stood in the bathroom, thinking about his situation as he walked into the bedroom, clad in only a towel. He opened a window and took in a deep breath and then lowered his head and smiled. It was strange; two days ago he had been in a deep depression, almost on the verge of committing suicide but now he was enjoying himself. Maybe it was being around people who treated him as an equal, and didn't shun him because of his past...Link seemed to understand and care about Siegfried's problems, but perhaps he was just using him to help his country. Either way, he felt better than he had for a while.

A loud bump from Leon's room caused him to start, but he just shook himself and went about dressing.

"_Perhaps, I should visit her..."_ he thought

Maxi lay on the floor, on his front, his hands directly under his shoulders; he slid them out a bit, and then pushed his body up off the floor. His push ups were interrupted by a loud thud from a little way down the hall. Ignoring it he went back to his exercises, he wished he could do his usual training with his nunchaku, but he needed a bigger and open space, so he had to content himself for now. After a further ten minutes of assorted exercises he got up and walked into the bathroom. He had to let loose some energy some how, the exercises hadn't taken much out of him, he needed to run or something because the thought of not being allowed to smack Astaroth's ugly face as soon as he saw him annoyed him. Turning on the shower he slipped underneath its spray. _"I knew I should have listened to Kilik when he tried to teach me to meditate"_

Link walked out of his room and stood outside the door, breathing in deeply, trying to dispel the tension that was growing in his body. He had spent a couple of minutes sitting on his bed, trying to meditate, but like Maxi, he was far too impatient for that to work, he had to do physical exercise to make it go. But it was too late now. He stood there for a moment with his eyes closed, the sound of a door opening and closing a few metres down the hall brought him back. Maxi had just come out of his room, dressed in his usual white, a nunchaku hanging around his neck, his hair slightly damp from the shower he had just taken. He walked over to Link, stopping by his side to wait with him for the others.

"Something wrong?" Link asked, tilting his head back to lean it against his bedroom door

"No, not really, I'm just not looking forward to seeing Astaroth again, knowing that I'm not allowed to beat the crap out of him yet. I need to get rid of some of this energy. I really want to do my normal training with my nunchaku...but there's not enough space indoors." Maxi answered with a sigh.

"I know what you mean, I'm not thrilled about seeing Ganondorf back here, but I have to. I'm going to do my usual training later and I was going to ask you to join me so I could see your skills."

"Sounds like a plan. I wonder what's taking so long with everyone else?"

Link shrugged and looked up the hall at the sound of Zelda's door opening. She walked out in her normal dress, looking at the two men standing by Link's door.

"Hey!" she called in greeting

"Hi Zelda."

Two minutes later, everyone was assembled, including Raphael, Sheik, Liam and Impa. They walked through the castles halls in apprehension, noticing the deafening silence and almost physical tension. Link, Zelda, Sheik, Impa and Liam walked in the front, Leon just behind them, swinging his gun nervously. The rest of the group had their heads down. They passed through a set of double doors, into a conference room, and looked up at the king who was sitting in an ornately decorated chair at the head of a large rectangular table. He looked up as the group of warriors walked in and nodded to them, sizing up the two Asians, whom he hadn't met before.

Zelda took her seat on the right of her father, the king. A few military officials were in the room too, sitting at the head of the table. Link moved into his place, between the king and Zelda, of course he had to stand. Liam was opposite him, between the king and the military officials. Leon stood in the corner behind Link, Impa in the corner behind Liam. Sheik stood by the large window, looking out to the gardens and watching a couple of guards glancing nervously at the news that Ganon was approaching the castle. Yunsung, Siegfried, Maxi and Raphael stood nervously near the door, unsure of what to do. The king smiled at them gently, and then called each one forward to talk to them in turn, asking questions and then telling them where they should stand. They ended up forming a semi-circle around the chair the king sat in, between Link and Leon's, Impa and Liam's positions.

A shaky knock at the wooden door sounded a few moments later.

"Enter!" the king called. A young and very nervous and pallid servant shuffled into the room, looking absolutely petrified, but clearly trying to mask it in front of the warriors and royalty.

"Sire, Ganondorf has arrived." he stated nervously

"Send him in, please Aaron." the King replied.

The servant nodded and bowed, then left. Seconds later, Ganondorf came in, flanked by Astaroth, Necrid, Cervantes and Charade and several Gerudo women.

Link quickly glanced back to where Maxi was standing, and he could see the strain and effort it was taking him already, to not pounce on Astaroth. He motioned with his hand to keep control of himself.

"King Harkinian, it's a pleasure to see you again." Ganon smirked, mock bowing to the king.

"Ganondorf, I will not tolerate that attitude in this court, you will keep a civil tongue while you are here." The king commanded, already annoyed

Ganondorf said nothing, just smirked again and took a seat, at the opposite end of the table so he was directly facing him, his allies and soldiers took the same formation as Link and his now-comrades.

"So, I see you have the warriors to defeat my allies, here...you don't stand a chance with that rabble, especially if 'fairy- boy' is leading them."

Link's eyes narrowed as he heard Ganondorf's words, as did everyone else's on the Hylians side.

"Ganondorf, that is unimportant at this point in time. Let's get down to what we're here for...negotiations."

"I have told you Harkinian, my offer is the only negotiation that I will make. Hand over the princess and fairy boy and we will call off the war. It's a fair proposition as I see it, two people for the rest of Hyrule."

"Forget it Ganondorf. My daughter and Link are too important for me to hand over to you to do goddesses only knows what to them."

"Then we shall go to war!" Ganondorf roared.

"There are better deals we can make, I'm sure."

"I'm afraid not, those two are the only things I want."

"Any particular reason?"

"So I can torture and kill Link in whatever way I see fit. And as for your daughter, well, what man wouldn't want such a beautiful young woman in their possession?"

"Ganondorf, I am warning you now, if you make any more comments like that I will be forced to..."

"You'll be forced to...what? Cower behind those excuses for warriors that are standing behind you?" Ganondorf cut in "I will make any comments I like about your slut of a daughter, as long as I have the army that will win."

"GANONDORF! NO MATTER HOW POWERFUL AND RIGHT YOU THINK YOU ARE, YOU WILL _NOT _CALL MY DAUGHTER A SLUT" The king roared

Link was growling now, his hatred for Ganondorf growing by the second. Liam was scowling at Ganon, along with Impa and Sheik. Zelda held her chin high, ignoring the comment about herself. Maxi, Yunsung, Siegfried and Raphael stared; amazed that someone would say that to the faces of the Royal family.

"It seems I've struck a nerve with you there, _sire._" Ganondorf sneered mockingly.

"Get out...NOW!" the king commanded, his voice deadly calm now.

"And if I don't?" He challenged

"Out"

Ganondorf looked at the king and made no move to leave. King Harkinian looked at Link and nodded to him. Link drew his sword immediately, and turned to Liam and Leon who also drew their weapons and approached Ganondorf, who scowled then got up and left. As he reached the door he cried

"This will be war, Hylians, and you'll fall to my power!"

The door slammed shut behind the Gerudo king and his followers. Link looked to the king, who nodded, and followed them out of the room, listening to what they had to say to each other.

Back in the conference room, the military officials had left, leaving everyone behind.

"It's as I feared, we have no choice but to fight...fight a war we are almost certain to loose," the king sighed heavily

"Unless Ganondorf is defeated before the war starts." Zelda said.

"Uhh, I don't mean to pry or be out of bounds etc, but...do these conferences always go like that?" Maxi asked quietly.

"Yes, Ganondorf is getting more and more cocky, because he knows he's got the upper hand. And he's right, we will fall to his power, since we've had the peace after Ganon was banished we've been lulled into a sense of security. Unfortunately, we don't have the strength to fight back, but you already know that, don't you?"

Maxi didn't answer, taking it as a rhetorical question, instead he looked down at Zelda who seemed shaken up over the ordeal.

Link burst in a few seconds later.

"Ganon's going to attack in two days!" he gasped out, panting desperately.

"But the soldiers won't be ready for another week at least. They're not trained properly, the Gerudos will tear them to pieces!" Liam yelped

"Well, that's what Ganon has just said to Astaroth and the others. He's going to get his troops ready tomorrow and start marching for the castle tomorrow night!" Link replied back, not in exactly the calmest of voices. He leant forwards, resting his hands on his knees.

The king immediately took charge again,

"Sheik, run and get all the military officials and tacticians here, NOW! Impa, get down to the armoury and check they've got enough armour and weapons for the men, we've got:

250 foot soldiers

200 cavalry

100 archers

150 spearmen

and 100 knights. Leon, run down to the stables and get the stable master to check all the horses are in top condition. Liam send out messengers around Kakariko and the market town to make sure all the soldiers are up here by 9am tomorrow morning." He barked the commands and the appointed people scurried off to carry out the commands as soon as they were issued.

The king stood up and looked at Link, who was still panting, and the others.

"You're free to do what you like for now, but I would like you to go down to the infirmary and be checked out by the doctor, don't take it as an insult, you look perfectly healthy but Hyrule's fate depends on you all. You ride to the Gerudo valley at 11:30pm tomorrow, when the Gerudos start moving off, hopefully you can tackle Ganon and his allies before they get too far towards Hyrule castle." He walked out as soon as he had finished speaking, to go to the more private meeting room. Zelda stood up, looked at Link and smiled slightly then left the room.

Link looked down again, still panting while the other warriors looked at each other. They looked down to Link, who was still shuddering, but no longer with harsh ragged breaths from running, instead it was panic.

He looked up at the other warriors, who were wondering about his panic.

"We're running out of time"

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A.N: As always, reviews are greatly appreciated and I will try to reply to any e-mails sent if requested. I do try to incorperate any suggestions into the story if I think it'll fit in, do they will not be ignored. As a final note after the next chapter (8) is loaded up, things may slow down for a while as I'm not done with writing chapter 9, although I will be working as hard as possible, to get it finished and updated. Notes of the estimated date will be left in my profile, after chapter 8 is loaded up


	8. Journey into Battle

A.N: Same as always. Sorry if the punctuation is off, my mate Rosie, didn't correct it for me this time.

Chapter 8: Journey into battle

The young elven warrior straightened his spine after a few minutes and sighed deeply, blinking repeatedly to keep his anxious tears from falling. Glancing at the older men, he left the room, with them in tow.

"Hey!" Siegfried yelled at the 17 year old blonde man. "We have until tomorrow night, why are you so worried?"

"Because the armies aren't ready. If we don't succeed in thrashing Ganon's butt, we're screwed. And not just the people of this world you as well and I don't think our enemies are going to be too merciful. In fact, if they do let us live, it'll only be so they can torture us enough to make us wish they had killed us, trust me I know their minds. I personally am not worried for myself, but more for Zelda," Link replied

"I know, did you see the way he was looking at her? It's like he was lusting after her or something," Yunsung commented

Link nodded his head as if to say 'exactly'

"Anyway, I'm going to do some training to make sure my skills are up to scratch, you're welcome to join me." he stated before leading the way to the area the soldiers used to train.

The training grounds were a large, flat stone courtyard, hidden from view by high stone walls. Where it was positioned no-one was quite sure, the castle had a way to accommodate everything, though it didn't seem to be able too from the outside.

Sand pits stood in the centre of the courtyard for the men to fight in and be able to fall without hurting themselves; targets were lined up on the far left wall for archery practised and several other training devices stood around. The soldiers in the castle only used dummies for new comers to train on, because they couldn't fight back, the more experienced men needed more experienced enemies so they fought other soldiers.

Liam as the main Captain of the guards, kept lists of the guards and how experienced they were and moved them accordingly to whether they won or lost a battle.

The patter of feet reached Link's ears, but knowing it was Liam, he drew the Master sword and Hylian shield and turned to the men standing behind him.

"So who wants to show me what they can do first?"

"You want us to fight you?" Raphael asked

"Not yet, I want to see your usual training first."

"I'll go," Yunsung stated, walking towards the sand pit

"My god! You're showing some damn maturity aren't you?" Maxi commented. At this point Liam walked in and trotted up to Link, then turned to watch Yunsung, who blushed after seeing his audience was about to size him up.

"_Alright, you're going to have to show them just what you can do. Just imagine you're back at the dojo." _the young man thought to himself.

Walking to the far edge of the sand pit, he turned to face his audience, switched White Storm (his sword) to his left, holding it so the blade faced his body and lowered his head, breathing deeply to steady his nerves.

"_Come on! You're the best fighter in Korea, I almost got Soul Edge, damn it! Just do it!"_

With his right hand's palm resting against his thigh he breathed in deeply. (A/N: Anyone who's played Soul Calibur 2 will know I'm talking about the demo scenes now).

Starting his moves he raised his head and right arm, flicking his hand so that his palm faced the audience. He slowly moved his arm towards his sword, and gripping the hilt, moving it away from is left arm without his left arm moving. His wrist suddenly flicked out, brandishing his sword towards Link again. Slowly he began to move his entire body, swinging his sword expertly, his foot steps and jumps flawless. His moves were accurate, quick and strong, the three things they needed to be. Whilst he acted brash, blunt, and clumsy at times, his moves were graceful and complicated, practiced to the perfection of his dojo from which he learned his skills.

He ended his sequence with one leg stretched forwards, his sword inches away from his foot. He straightened, awaiting his Link's reaction. Link looked at the slightly older teenager and smiled

"Nice moves," he commented

Yunsung chuckled and moved away to the back of the group, panting slightly.

"Right, next," Link requested as he stared at the sand pit. The warriors showed off their skill one by one, Maxi, then Raphael and Siegfried and finally Link. Sheik strolled up, just after Link had finished, and gave a demonstration of his own skills. The warriors finally paired up and fought with each other, sharpening their skills. By the time they had finished with the physical training, it was late and they went inside to discuss the situation and tactics.

"Ok. So, who's going to fight who?" Maxi asked "I'm versus Astaroth and your against Ganondorf, obviously, but what about the others?"

"Ah, we'll see when we get there."

"Is that wise?"

"It won't make much difference who you fight, I don't think. You're all very skilled so it shouldn't be too much of a problem."

The talk continued long into the night, the king, Impa, Leon and Zelda walking in and discussing with the warriors.

As the conversation began to draw to a close and the final plans confirmed they discussed the foe of each warrior and the sages sealing Ganondorf back in the evil realm, hopefully with a stronger seal this time, with the help of the Goddesses, of course. Impa 'treated' the other worldly people to a short version of Link's quest as the Hero of Time, while Link began to doze in his chair.

"So when do you want the sages to come in?" Zelda asked Link

"When Ganon is out of it," he answered, with a tone in his voice as if to say 'when else'

"Wouldn't it be easier for me just to come with you, rather than hanging around with the sages and Leon. Plus, if Leon is going to come and defend me, I'll have to use more magic to transport him, and well, I won't really need guarding if Ganondorf is knocked out."

"Zelda, we don't want you there in case you get hurt," the king answered

"I can defend myself perfectly well, thank you very much," Zelda retorted

"Be that as it may, we don't want to take any chances of you getting hurt."

"Do you think I'm incapable of staying out of harms reach? I went into hiding with Impa, I was trapped in Ganondorf's castle, I've fought of monsters, I can use magic_ and _physical attacks, and I took up a very convincing role of Sheik. Why do you insist that I'm going to get hurt?" she spat, angry that her father would treat her like that.

"Zelda, that's enough. You are a princess, not a warrior. Despite the fact that you _can _fight and defend yourself, I do not want to risk it."

"It's because I'm a woman isn't it? Just a weak and feeble woman, fit to do nothing more than look pretty and be a housewife. Well thank you _very _much."

Link groaned and buried his head in his arms, he knew that Zelda could get very out of hand if she thought someone saw her as nothing more than a week and feeble woman. The others shifted uncomfortably, not happy at seeing this sort of display.

"Young Lady that is enough. I do not want to hear anymore protests from you. The fact that you are a woman has got nothing to do with it. If you carry on acting like this I'll treat you like the child you're acting as and send you to your room."

"I'm not going to be sent, I'll go anyway," she bit out quietly, before turning on her heel and storming out of the room. The door slammed shut with a loud 'BANG'

The men and Impa stared at the door for a few seconds and then turned to look at each other in stunned silence. Zelda was usually so pleasant and mild mannered that no-one thought she had it in her to get that annoyed.

The last time Impa and the King had seen Zelda that annoyed was two years ago, when she was fifteen. Since then she had matured and her anger very rarely flared up, although when she did get angry well, everyone trembled with fear. She had a red hot temper and could give a very painful tongue lashing, so to speak.

Link, Liam, Leon, King Harkinian, Impa and Sheik sighed quietly. Raphael, Siegfried, Maxi and Yunsung sat uncomfortably, not knowing how to act after that display.

"Uh, it's, uh, late so, um, I'm going to head to bed you know," Leon mumbled and made his way towards the door

"Good night" he said and slipped out of the room

The rest of the group made their way back up to their bedrooms in dribs and drabs. Raphael heading off to check on Amy one last time and retiring to his room after. Link, along with Maxi disappeared up to the bedroom hallway. Liam hung around downstairs for a bit longer before heading out with Siegfried and Yunsung.

Zelda lay in her bed, sulking. It wasn't like her to do that but she hated people thinking of her as nothing more than a woman, especially after all she had been through.

'_Who do they think they are, treating me like that? I'll show them. I will go with them to the fight and take on Ganondorf by Link's side"_ she thought.

As she drifted off to sleep a simple plan formed in her mind

'_I took up a very convincing role as Sheik...'_

A cuccoo's crowing announced day break and everyone important was up almost instantly, excluding Zelda that is (although Link was up within half an hour of the wake up call, so that's got to count for something).

Due to the fact that it was the day before the battle, Hyrule Castle Market Town was extremely busy. The citizens gathered up belongings and tried to secure their houses as best as possible, because despite the fact the King had reassured the citizens that the Hylians would win against the Gerudos, they knew that they were unlikely to. In the past week half of the citizens had packed up and headed for Kakariko village, taking all they could carry and their families. Merchants were non existent on this day, as well as any relaxation.

Although the king was worried that the people if the Market town didn't trust the strength of the army, he really did prefer that they had moved to a safer place, even if it was only a few minutes away on horse back.

Up at the castle hundreds of soldiers practised attacks, checked their armour, sharpened their weapons and listened intently to the orders being given by Link and Liam.

The King was discussing something about attacks to a tactical battle manoeuvre thingy person (sorry, I can't remember the proper name)

Impa and Sheik sat together in Impa's room, performing rituals to try and help the army win and the sages seal to be stronger.

Leon was sitting in his room, checking his equipment and trying to shut his pet birds up.

Maxi, Yunsung, Siegfried and Raphael were down in the infirmary waiting for the doctor to come out.

The day flew by with preparations for battle, everything being checked and double checked, testing weapons and armour, making sure the horses and men were in the top condition that they could be.

By the end of the day the younger soldiers were excited and nervous at the same time, impatient to start moving off. The older soldiers stood silent in the ranks, prayers echoing in their minds that their families would remain safe and that they could return to them.

Liam and the King were at the head of the ranks, sitting on horseback, waiting for news from Leon, who had gone on another stealth mission to find out when the Gerudos were starting to move off. It was about 11: 25pm and the moon was high over head, casting its pale light on the silver armour of the soldiers and horses.

The ranks parted suddenly for Link and the other warriors to pass through, Impa and Sheik taking up the rear, Zelda was inside reading quietly or so it seemed.

Link made his way through the gap that the soldiers had made for him and his companions, he led Epona along by the reins, his body starting to tense up in both anxiety and excitement. He was dressed as usual, the only difference being that he now wore gold coloured chain mail beneath his green tunic, and a long emerald green cloak hung from his shoulders.

Siegfried walked just behind Link, his zweihander, Requiem, latched onto the back of his armour that had seemingly come from nowhere, since he hadn't got it from Hyrule and hadn't brought anything with him other than his sword. His long blonde hair was tied back into a ponytail, with his fringe still hanging over his eye, hiding his scar.

Maxi, just behind Siegfried, glanced around at the faces looking at him, some scoffing at the fact that he had no visible weapon on him. He had, rather obviously, got his weapon with him, just it didn't seem like one, after all the Hylian soldiers had only trained with swords and other sharp weapons, the notion of using two sticks tied together with a bit of chain was ridiculous to them, especially when you compared Siegfried's Zweihander sword to Maxi's nunchaku.

Yunsung strolled leisurely after Maxi, dressed his normal orange and white attire. Inappropriate for battle maybe but he was better off the Maxi, who was wearing his normal open fronted sailor's coat, which left his chest and stomach bare.

Raphael took up the rear, dressed in his normal, if now slightly worn, clothing, his rapier sword slipped through a loop in his belt and hanging down next to his leg. The soldiers glanced at the French noble man, obviously not expecting to see someone like this helping to save another country other than his own (which he probably wouldn't do anyway)

The warriors were followed by Impa and Sheik. When they reached the front of the ranks they filed out so they were facing the king in a row, as each of them bowed and he nodded in return. They turned back around and Link mounted Epona, and moved to the left while other horses were brought out for Maxi, Yunsung, Siegfried, Raphael and Sheik. Once they were mounted, Link moved so he was in front and central to the others.

Everyone waited in anxious silence for Leon to come back.

Clouds began to drift across the sky as the moon rose higher and the men began to shift restlessly. Link sat on Epona, his head bowed and eyes closed as he prayed to the goddesses. His companions, Maxi, Siegfried, Yunsung and Raphael, were in the same stance each thinking about different things that were personal to themselves.

Link's ears suddenly pricked up slightly, and he raised his head at the sound of a horse's thundering hooves and its whinny.

Seconds later Leon appeared on horseback, galloping up the slope that lead to the castle and pulling on the reins with his left hand, while putting a pair of binoculars away with his right. The horse stopped in front of Link and Leon looked at Link briefly, before looking to the king and announcing;

"They're coming."

"How far away?" the king asked

"Just getting onto Hyrule field, coming 'round the western side of the ranch," he answered

"Thank you, Leon," the king said curtly, then nodding to Link.

Link bowed his head to his monarch, his eyes glancing into Liam's, wishing him luck. He then turned back to face forward and slowly began to move Epona off, down the slope, the other warriors following him, Sheik taking up the rear.

A few minutes passed before the king made the next move, ordering Liam and the army to wait just outside the drawbridge. Leon headed back up to the castle, to check on the princess, Impa in tow.

Link, along with Maxi, Siegfried, Raphael, Yunsung and Sheik took the long way round to the Gerudo Valley, the horses in a fast canter. Link wanted to catch Ganondorf and the others before they got onto Hyrule field, so they couldn't distract the army. Knowing Ganondorf however, Link knew he would gloat, by staying behind in the fortress, leaving his army to massacre the Hylians, without a leader, therefore showing up the Hylians further, when they lost. And Link wasn't about to let that happen.

As the horses trotted down the slope, Link caught a movement in the corner of his eye and held up his hand to stop the others, dismounted and climbed behind a bush, using the dark green cloak to help camouflage himself. With the current time it was dark on the field and the Gerudos, not used to plant life, at least not green plant life, were unlikely to notice the difference. He watched as the Gerudo army, some on horseback, others by foot slowly travelled up the steep hill and stopped on the top, to form into ranks.

He slipped back to the others and motioned for them to dismount and follow him.

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Forget what I said about the chapter updates. Chapter 9 is almost finished and should be ready to go up on Monday. I apologise if it isn't.


	9. Storm of struggles and charades

Chapter 9: Storm of struggles and charades 

The group crept forwards in silence, with Sheik staying behind until the Gerudos were over the brow of the hill so he could take the horses into the valley without giving away the presence of the warriors.

Link, at the front, waited by the slight corner under the ledge, until every Gerudo had passed by, but he was starting to grow anxious; the army was large, and it was taking time for them all to pass. With each minute that passed it was a chance for Ganondorf to enter onto the field.

Yunsung, near the back of the group, was starting to grow impatient and restless and was beginning to shift irritably.

"Yunsung," Link half whispered, half shouted, hissing as he did so "Stop fidgeting. If you carry on I'll feed you to the dragons later, if we don't get killed by the Gerudos because of your stupidity first."

"Oh, come on Link. There's no point in…"

Yunsung was cut off, mid sentence, by Raphael, who had put his hand over his mouth and pushed him to the floor in one move. It was unlike Raphael to do something such as that, but he seemed to understand the importance of keeping quiet more than anyone else. Maxi too was beginning to become bored. A few minutes later, the last few dregs of Gerudos filed past Link and up to the hill. He sent Raphael forward a bit to sneak around the corner and see if the Gerudos had moved off. Once he came back reporting that they had, Yunsung ran back to Sheik to tell him to get ready to move, then returned to the others, who were following Link into the valley.

They valley was cold, dark and silent, when the group entered, save for the quiet gushing of the nearby waterfall. Maxi shivered involuntarily at the sharp coldness of the air, and looked behind him to the others, who just smirked and carried on following Link, who led the way over the small pool of water and to the main bridge and valley.

"Hey, Link," Maxi piped up "I thought this was a desert."

"It isn't quite yet, the desert is through the gates in the fortress grounds."

"But the heat travels through to here, right?"

"Of course."

"So why is it so damn cold?" Maxi asked, shivering again

"Well for one thing, you aren't wearing much of a shirt and two, deserts always get freezing cold at night," Link answered

"Oh," was Maxi's response

"Penpiddin," Link muttered under his breath

(A.N: Penpiddin, is Welsh, if I tell you that 'pen' is 'head', I'm sure you can guess what the rest is wink wink)

Maxi seemed not to hear this comment, whereas in fact he had and didn't want to know what language it was or what it meant, he seemed to realise he had been insulted.

Walking forwards in silence the group made their way to the large bridge and walked over it, looking down at the long drop and gulping.

Behind them the sound of hooves hitting the ground could be heard, as Sheik made his way through the valley.

Approaching the stone arch which marked the official to the Gerudo's territory, Link took a deep breath and announced to the others that they were now officially trespassing on Gerudo territory, that there was no going back and that if they lost they would die a slow, painful and torturous death.

"Oh, now he tells us." Yunsung muttered to himself as he trudged up the path behind Maxi, and Raphael rolled his eyes.

Leon walked up the carpeted stone stairs, heading for the princess's room. She hadn't been seen all day, except by Sheik, who had assured everyone that it would be better to leave her to cool down. Despite the fact that it had been just over 24 hours previously, Zelda was still upset, apparently. This was extremely unlike her, she usually would have calmed down by the next morning, so for her to stay mad and locked up in her room was worrying.

He had never been very good at sensing how people felt emotionally, nor was he good with dealing with someone when they were upset, which is, perhaps, why it took so long for him and Claire to get together. Nevertheless, he felt compelled to check on her. He had a gut feeling that something was wrong, and when he did get around to sensing something, he was usually right.

He knocked on the door quietly, just in case she was asleep, when there was no answer he opened the door, centimetres at a time, and only enough to let enough light in the room to see by. Instead of seeing the silhouetted form of Zelda covered by blankets, on the bed, there was none. Leon opened the door fully, and grabbed the nearby oil lamp from outside the room, walked in and lit the room's few torches. It cast eerie shadows around the room, and he began to feel anxious as to where Zelda could be.

There was no sign of her and no sign of her regular habits either. She was incredibly tidy, all the time. The curtains would always be neatly pulled back, or hanging delicately, the bed would be neat and well made. Over the fire place there would be large portraits and unused candles to decorate the room. The books she read would either be stacked neatly on the table, or in the book shelf, her clothes always folded away neatly. So nothing could have prepared Leon for what he saw.

The room was trashed; the books were haphazardly strewn across the floor, as was most of everything else. The bed was unmade, in factthere was only the sheet that covered the mattress, and the pillows, left on it, while her usual dress was strewn over the bed and even ripped in places.

Leon picked his way between the books, curtains from around the bed, and cushions that lay on the floor. When he reached the other side of the bed, and had pulled the curtains back into place, he found the rest of the bedding.

'_Oh NO! Zelda, what crazy plan have you come up with this time? And how did you manage to do this?' _were the thoughts that ran through his head as he looked at the lump of bedding on the floor, with a bandaged hand sticking out from underneath

Leon pulled back the sheets and found Sheik, lying on the floor, unable to move. Leon rolled Sheik over and found him to be breathing, his eyes were open and darting around as he tried to tell Leon something. Knowing what the princess had done already, though, Leon flung the paralyzed Sheikah warrior over his shoulder and sprintedout of Zelda's room down to Impa's.

'_Zelda, you're insane. You're going to get yourself and others hurt. Why are you Hyrulian women so damn stubborn? You're as bad as Claire!'_

He knocked on the door loudly and repeatedly, until Impa emerged.

"Good Goddesses Leon! I'm trying to get some work done here, what's wrong with…" Impa trailed off as she noticed the body of her son, hanging over Leon's shoulder.

"Put him on the bed!" she ordered immediately.

Leon did as he was told, putting Sheik on the bed, Impa closing the door behind them.

"It's only a light paralyzing spell, if Zelda put it on him when he went in then it should fade any minute now." Impa stated, looking down at her son. Indeed, he was already starting to move his arms slightly.

"Zelda's room is trashed though, so he put up a good fight. This does, however, mean that Zelda has gone to the Gerudo valley with Link, so she could be in real danger."

"Of course. We'll have to tell the king, then you and Sheik can head to the Gerudo Valley while I fill in the sages as to the new development."

"Is it wise to make him move so soon after he's been paralyzed?" Leon asked gesturing to Sheik with his head.

"The air and movement will sort him out quickly so it shouldn't be much of a problem."

"Will you stop talking about me as if I'm not in the room?" Sheik suddenly said, whilst trying to pull himself into a sitting position.

Leon smiled slightly and Impa rolled her eyes.

"Leon, get to the king and get two horses ready for you and Sheik, then set of for the valley" Impa commanded, extending a hand towards her son to help him up.

Leon nodded and ran out the room while Impa stayed behind to help Sheik get his bearings. She then disappeared in a flash of purple light, as Sheik walked lethargically down the corridor.

Link glanced around continuously, walking up the steps and then into the fortress, navigating his way through long corridors.

He suddenly stopped and stiffened at the sound of what sounded like bone clicking against the floor. The other warriors listened intently to the sound.

"Charade," Siegfried whispered from behind Link.

"Yunsung," Link hissed "Would you care to do the honours?"

Yunsung nodded and slipped to the front of the group and glanced around the corner, to see the eye of Charade swivelling around.

He waited until the creatures back was turned and then walked quietly into the room, pulling out 'White Storm' from his belt.

Link peeked around the corner, watching quietly. Siegfried was kneeled on the floor and watching the Korean. Maxi was trying to squirm his way into a position which would let him witness the fight.

Thinking he had the element of surprise, Yunsung strode forward, raising his sword to take a swipe at the fragment of Soul Edge's back. When he was a few foot away, Charade turned around, the eye in its ribcage narrowed and glaring at him.

"Oh f..." Yunsung hissed, before being cut off by the creature drawing a pair of ninja knives out of nowhere.

It suddenly leapt at him, bringing one of the knives down in an arc. Yunsung gasped and stepped back, bringing up his sword to block the attack. There was a clang and scrape of metal on metal. Yunsung retreated a couple of steps, the creature did too, then launched at him again. Blocking the attack, the Korean, moved to behind the creature and took a swipe at it. It moved, spun round and kicked at him. He backed off, and launched himself at it, swinging White Storm horizontally at the same time, lightly scraping the ribcage of the creature as it dodged the attack.

The others watched with interest as Yunsung fought Charade, swinging White Storm in an expert form. Turning away from the fight Link began to walk down the corridor.

"Are we leaving him there on his own?" Raphael asked, watching Link walk away.

"Yeah, I think he can handle himself, don't you?" Link responded, gesturing back at Yunsung. Raphael turned back to watch Yunsung for a moment, to see him grab Charade, throw him onto the floor, slam the sword through the creatures eye and then kick down on it, driving it further into the floor. The creature, lay on the floor, writhing in pain its slashed eye closed around the blade, and some sort of what seemed to be a mixture of unnatural fluids, seeping out. One of which was silver, like molten metal. Like, perhaps, a liquid piece of Soul Edge.

Raphael turned back towards Link and nodded, starting to follow him down the corridor. Maxi lingered for a second to watch the Korean for a moment longer, and then he turned away, spurred on by the desire to kill Astaroth. Siegfried was still crouched where he was before, staring at the living fragment of Soul Edge that was seemingly bleeding as it was slowly destroyed by human hands. His thoughts drifted back to when he had thrown Soul Edge into the crevasse up in the cathedral, and he suddenly wondered what he was doing here. Why he was even in his human form. The dark side of his soul, his alter ego, Nightmare, was waking up once again; Soul Edge hadn't been destroyed, only hidden. The remains of Soul Edge that was back on its feet once again, represented the evil that had gone before…but he wouldn't give into it, he assured himself, shaking his head and standing up. He meandered his way towards Link, telling himself that this was his only chance of redeeming himself.

'_What's going on inside your head, Siegfried?' _Link thought. He had watched the blonde knight as he had become seemingly enthralled by Charade, then stood up and slowly paced down the corridor. The soft patter of footfalls interrupted his thoughts. Turning in the direction from which the sound came, he saw Sheik trot around the corner.

"How did you find us?" Maxi asked the Sheikah warrior

"With the noise coming from their fight, who wouldn't be able to navigate their way here from the sound?" was his answer.

He looked to the room in which Yunsung was duelling with Charade.

Charade suddenly thrust one sword forwards, straight to where Yunsung's stomach would have been, had he not moved, and piercing only air instead. The Korean warrior smirked, as he back stepped, thinking he was too clever for the Taki impersonator. This was not the case however, as Charade raised its leg, kicking Yunsung in the chest, wiping the smirk off his face, and then immediately slashing at him when he stumbled, bringing the knife down into the teen's upper left arm. A torrent of crimson blood spurted out of the wound as the knife sank into the softish flesh.

Yunsung cried out slightly as the blade penetrated his arm, he stared down at the cut once the weapon had been removed, and he grimaced at the fountain of claret gushed out, then clasped his arm with his right hand, trying to hold the sword level at the same time.

Upon hearing Yunsung's cry, and seeing the blood appear, Sheik sprang forwards and stood by the entrance to the room, watching in dismay as the youth clutched at the wound, in a vain attempt to stop the rush of blood. Link eyed Sheik suspiciously; it wasn't like him to be concerned over such a slight wound, as he would usually see it.

"Sheik, c'mon, we need to find the others before they have a chance to get onto Hyrule field." Link said, quietly, glancing towards a corner.

Reluctantly turning away from the battle, Sheik jogged down to Link. Link nodded and then began to lead the way again navigating through more eerily empty corridor.

Leon pulled the horses to the front of the stable yard, having hurriedly told the king what they had suspected Zelda to have done. He looked up as the real Sheik jogged into the stable yard and over towards him.

"You ready to go?" Leon asked, steadying his horse

The Sheikah nodded in reply and swung himself up into the saddle. Leon followed suit and gently kicked Thara in the sides to get him to move. Sheik's black Sheikah war horse, Kuro-fuyu, called Kuro for short, began to move of its own accord, trotting down the path along side Thara and Leon. Kuro-fuyu was a large and somewhat wicked tempered stallion, which had been by Sheik's side since he was eight, although the horse was somewhat larger than him at that point in time. The creature's front quarters, its legs, head, neck and withers, up to about half way down its back were an extremely light dappled grey, almost white in places, which quickly darkened to pitch black. His mane was black and his tail was dark grey. It was extremely large and heavily built, even for a horse, which was perhaps to make up for his human's lack of size. The name 'Kuro-fuyu', meant ' Black winter' which was probably to complement the horses' colours, but also somehow contrast and complement its cold but fiery nature, was of Sheikah origin (A.N: as you would expect, but if you speak Japanese, you will realise that it actually well, Japanese). Kicking the horse sharply in the flank, Sheik surged forwards, his horse in a fast canter, Leon was just behind. Racing through the castle gates, they thundered through the town, towards the drawbridge and over it, before it was hastily raised again. Leon glanced to his right as they headed up the hill, and saw the Hylian army that they had just stampeded past. He had given Liam a quick salute, as he stood before the army. The Hylian army was fidgeting nervously as it stared up at the Gerudo army on the brow of the hill.

"Good luck, Liam," he whispered as the armies definition began to fade into a blurred mass.

Yunsung squeaked slightly, and fell to the floor as Charade kicked him in the chest. He was backed into a corner, which wasn't really a good place to be. He looked up at Charade, who stood, towering over him, ninja blades drawn, and ready for attack. As Charade began to descend upon Yunsung, the teen warrior burst upwards, slamming into the creature's chest and knocking it backwards. The creature stumbled, its eye wide with shock at what the teen had just done. Yunsung rolled his shoulders and stepped to the side. A slight growl rumbling in his throat, a harsh scowl set onto his face. Determined to finish the battle quickly, he thrust his sword forwards, and missed Charade by a couple of inches. Charade retaliated by bringing both knives towards Yunsung at the same time, in a lightening quick move, leaving Yunsung no time to react. As one blade sank into his left shoulder, the other scraped down the side of his face, starting just above his eyebrow and finishing half way down his cheek, the force of the attack forcing him down onto his knees as he tried to gasp, only to find himself suddenly winded and unable to breathe. He fell the rest of the way to the floor again, losing his grip on White Storm at the same time, trying to stop himself with his injured left arm and then jarring it as it slammed onto the ground. He winced, grimaced and tried to cry out at the same time, but was unable to let any noise escape because of the lack of air in his lungs. Charade's single eye seemed to stare down at him in a condescending manner, as he struggled to breathe, his chest heaving desperately. Raising its foot, Charade stamped down on Yunsung's chest leaving him grimacing in pain, it then knelt down next to him, and ripped the blade that was lodged in the young man's body out of his shoulder and then pressed it up against his neck. Blood trickled down the silver blade, coating it with hot scarlet liquid.

Struggling to get out from underneath the bony form of Charade, Yunsung squirmed desperately, his body searing with pain each time he moved. He stilled quickly when the blade was pressed harder into his neck, a hair's breadth away from spilling blood again. Yunsung's eyes darted around desperately, trying to find someone or something to help him. White Storm lay only centimetres away from his finger tips, but, as if reading Yunsung's thoughts, Charade knocked it away, and moved so that it was sitting on Yunsung, its legs pinning his arms down to the floor, one hand holding the knife to the Korean's jugular vein, the other holding his jaw to keep his head from moving. Yunsung closed his eyes, and muttered something audible only to him.

Sheik and Leon charged into the Gerudo Valley on horseback, the creatures' hooves pounding rhythmically on the floor to a furiously fast beat. Sheik, in the lead on Kuro-fuyu, glanced back at Leon who was glancing behind him. Leon turned back to see Sheik slow slightly to go over the wooden bridge, while he merely sped up to catch up with him.

Link glanced around the corner, watching for any signs of an enemy. The rooms and corridors were becoming colder with every step further into the heart of the building. A slight growling noise alerted him and the others to the presence of an enemy. Ducking behind a stack of crates he motioned for the others to do the same, and they quickly flattened themselves against more crates. Siegfried nodded as if confirming something and mouthed 'Cervantes' to Link.

As Yunsung lay on his back, feeling the cold sharpness of the knife pressing against his neck, he heard footsteps and he stiffened instinctively, his body going taut. Charade noticed this and looked down at Yunsung, before realising there were people coming and he looked up towards the exit of the room. And this was all Yunsung needed. With a sudden burst of speed, strength and pain, he flung himself upwards and forwards, sending Charade hurtling back into the far prison cell, dazed. Yunsung scrambled to his feet, and grabbed his sword that was lying nearby then rushed at the quickly recovering Charade. The creature itself glanced around desperately, as he saw Yunsung charge towards him, his sword held at waist height. Grabbing the fallen knife Charade turned, weapon in hand, at just the right time to see Yunsung's sword thrusting into the bottom of his eye and tearing upwards. White Storm ripped keenly through the thick throbbing flesh that was the only skin like part of Charade's body. Drawing his sword back, Yunsung watched as the split heart and combined eye fell out of Charade's ribcage and landed on the floor with a dull thud and slight squelching sound, ripped ligaments, that held the eye up, lying strewn around it and the light that had shone between the matt brown bones, finally faded. He smiled in triumph and satisfaction at seeing the silver metallic blood flow out from the eye organ and meld into a dull grey and eventually black, in the rough shape if an eye.

Wiping White Storm on his pant leg, Yunsung turned to the corridor, where the foot steps had come from, to see a rather hurried Sheik and Leon rush into the room.

"Sheik? Aren't you supposed to be with Link?" Yunsung questioned

"Zelda paralysed him and used her abilities to take on his form so that she could come here with you guys." Leon answered for him, his breathing heavy.

"Abilities?" Yunsung questioned

"Later, Yunsung. The fact is the princess could be in serious danger"

Sheik meanwhile was leaning over the dead form of Charade. "Impressive."

"Maybe, but he's still hurt," Leon replied, "Here." He added, handing Yunsung a cloth to press onto the wound on his shoulder.

"I'm fine," Yunsung stated, before stumbling forwards a few steps and toppling to the floor.

"Looks like it." Leon smirked, then knelt down to Yunsung and grabbed his arm, throwing it round his shoulders so he could support the wounded teenager. "Which way did they go?" Sheik asked

Yunsung answered by pointing to the corridor and hanging his head, exhausted.

--------------------------------------------

Sorry this was late. I had a lot to do Monday so I forgot. Reviews will, as always be appreciated. Thanks


	10. Victory, Nirvana & Peace

A.N: Once again, a big thank you to my friends especially Rosie. Oh, and I still don't own either Soul Calibur, The Legend of Zelda or Resident Evil. And sorry for the lateness of this chapter

Chapter 10: Victory, Nirvana and Peace?

Siegfried's eyes narrowed as he turned to look at Cervantes again. Grey skin, white beard, red eyes and a pirate outfit. It was him alright.

"Link, I'll follow him and take care of him, you go on and I'll catch you up later, OK?" Siegfried whispered, his voice low and quiet, making him sound almost like a cat purring.

Link nodded his head and watched the German slip out from behind the crates and start to follow the pirate down the corridor. Unfortunately, Siegfried was wearing a full suit of armour and it was practically impossible to move quietly in a full set of armour, especially if your name was Siegfried Schtauffen. The Spanish piratewhipped around at the slight clink of metal, and saw Siegfried standing in front of him.

"What are you doing here?" the dead pirate growled menacingly.

Siegfried didn't answer. Instead he slipped Requiem out of its restraints on the back of his armour, and glared at the ghost in front of him. Cervantes smirked at the knight, this boy obviously had no idea who he was, had no idea that he still held a single shard of Soul Edge, and that it wanted to get back to the rest of its form. That was why he was helping Ganondorf; the Gerudo had said that in return for his deeds, he would help the ghost get Soul Edge back.

However, Cervantes' sword was acting strangely; it was seemingly drawn to the blonde, for some reason, almost as if the boy had a shard of Soul Edge. Cervantes' eyes widened slightly as he realised who was standing before him.

"Nightmare," Cervantes hissed "The great wielder of Soul Edge." He said 'great' sarcastically, as he was aware of what the legends of Soul Edge said:

'At one time the cursed sword was wielded by a master swordsman, then a pirate, and then at one time a pitiful youth'

"The pathetic child who took Soul Edge, in his insanity, to slaughter his father's murderer, only to realise, three short years later, that he was the murderer."

Siegfried's face darkened at Cervantes's taunting words, he knew his own story, and he didn't need to be told by someone else.

"Maybe, but you forget. I am the only person who was strong enough to break free from Soul Edge's grasp. Look at what happened to you when you wielded the sword, you died with it in hand. Your soul was unable to break away, controlled to such an extent that even when you died, you would only stop using it once the flesh rotted from your body. That doesn't say much for you now, does it?"

"Don't play games with me boy, I want Soul Edge and once Ganondorf has destroyed this pitiful world, I will get the sword!"

"That's what you think."

Cervantes seemed not to like Siegfried's answer, for he drew his swords, and settled into an attacking poise. Siegfried responded accordingly, by drawing his own sword, Requiem, and swinging it into position, in the narrow corridor, mindful of the lack of space around them.

"You think that you can defeat me, child?" Cervantes growled out, over emphasising the 'child'. Instead of answering, Siegfried walked calmly up to the dead pirate and looked at him for a moment and then reached behind him, to put his sword back into its clips that held his sword onto the back of his armour. Cervantes glowered at him, insulted by this boy who thought he was too much for him, the great Cervantes, to handle. Enraged, Cervantes raised his swords and darted towards Siegfried, with a furious battle cry. The blonde knight, however, failed to react at all, and instead merely stood calmly with his back to the pirate.

Link watched anxiously as Siegfried turned his back on Cervantes and stood with his eyes closed even when he heard Cervantes's battle cry. Link's eyes widened as Cervantes closed in on the blonde knight.

Siegfried waited patiently for Cervantes to get near to him. At the last second, he yanked Requiem out of its restraints, spun around with the blade almost vertical and then raised it up in the air above his head and swung it forwards. The flat of the massive blade slammed down onto Cervantes's chest and shoulder, as Cervantes began to bring his own blades down, whilst still in mid jump.

The pirate crashed into the floor gasping for breath that wasn't needed, eyes wide at the display of power and strength. Siegfried watched, a slight smirk on his face, as Cervantes struggled to his feet.

"Well, you really are all powerful aren't you, Cervy?" he stated sarcastically, his head cocked to the side.

"You think that that pathetic excuse for an attack will beat me? You fool!" Cervantes spat.

He stood to his full height and looked down at the blonde, who was a good four inches shorter than himself. He growled, sounding like a feral animal and backed down the corridor into one of the guards bedrooms. Siegfried followed him and motioned behind him for Link, Maxi, Raphael and Sheik to continue.

On Hyrule field, under the night sky, the Hylian army stared up at the Gerudos. Tension was growing in the ranks and they were starting to straggle and become loose, leaving gaps in the mass of soldiers.

"Hold your positions!" Liam barked at the soldiers who were slowly creeping back.

He turned in his saddle to look at the stragglers and glared at them, silently telling them through his glare that if the Gerudos didn't kill them, he would if they betrayed Hyrule. As he turned back to look at the Gerudos, something caught his eye. A messenger was waving a torch towards him from the room that contained the drawbridge controls, he was signalling to the cavalry, then pointing forwards.

Liam looked at where he was pointed, and he suddenly realised what he meant.

The Gerudo horse-women had gathered round the front of the rest of the army and their leader was starting to trot down the hill, the others getting ready to follow her as she picked up speed.

"Mars!" Liam shouted, addressing the leader of the Hylian's cavalry, then motioned towards the women riders with his head "Get your men ready to defend us!"

"Archers!"

As 'Mars' and his men settled into place, the Gerudos reached the bottom of the hill and began to thunder towards them at an alarming pace.

Link, Maxi, Raphael and Sheik had left Siegfried to his fight with Cervantes and had continued to make their way deeper into the fortress, and Link could swear to the goddesses that he occasionally heard Ganondorf's low malicious laughter. Maxi was trying to refrain from complaining that he was bored and that they were wasting their time by 'skulking' around like this. He had voiced this opinion many times since Siegfried had left, and had consequently been hit several times, to which he responded to by merely muttering Japanese profanities under his breath. Sheik was becoming increasingly nervous, and was now fidgeting but stopping himself whenever he saw someone looking at him.

Link, however, had noticed Sheik's odd behaviour, and was becoming increasingly suspicious. Sheik was usually calm, collected, and controlled; he also never showed any emotion in combat situations. Link had come to the conclusion, that this was not the Sheik he knew. He finally decided to ask.

"Sheik?"

"Hmmm?"

"You OK?"

"Uh, fine, why?" he said sounding extremely unconvincing, and Link was sure that he could detect a hint of Zelda in that answer. He shrugged it off; he just wanted to be back with her. She was safe in the castle and nothing could harm her with Leon there.

"Maxi, keep quiet and stop swearing!" Link hissed at Maxi.

Maxi 'hmphd' in response, but stopped his muttering.

Cervantes raised his swords above his head. "Burn to ashes!" he yelled, as the swords rose into the air of his accord, then darted towards Siegfried. Siegfried ducked as the glinting metal flashed and gleamed as they rushed towards him, ready to find a gap in his armour and bury themselves in his flesh. The blades slammed into the wall behind him, inches above his head. The swords stayed there as Cervantes desperately tried to summon them back to him. Meanwhile, the blonde German had started to advance towards the pirate, Requiem flung over his back but still in his grip. He stepped slowly towards Cervantes, the pirate responded by circling around the room, trying to reach the swords.

Then Cervantes made his biggest mistake, for just a few seconds he turned his back on the knight and yanked the two swords out of the wall. At the same time, Siegfried swung the zweihander at the pirate's turned back, with a sharp twist of the wrist and arm, that made him gasp slightly when he realised how hard he had swung the sword. Cervantes turned around just in time, flicking the swords up to his neck to block the giant blade. He did manage to block that attack but as he did the massive sword jarred in the blonde's hands as it struck the two blades, and it slid sideways to hit Cervantes' arm and leave a gaping wound, that sliced cleanly through the rotting flesh and shattered the bone.

Cervantes gasped at the sudden agony that seared up from the broken bone and ripped flesh, as a black inky liquid that acted as blood poured out of his arm, staining the dull grey cloth around the wound. It was strange, he wasn't supposed to feel pain, and he was dead, so therefore he couldn't, or more precisely, shouldn't. He growled in annoyance, this boy was insulting him more than ever, he was making a mockery out of him and he didn't like it.

With renewed fury he raised one blade above his head, his other, Nirvana, lying on the floor, and glared at the blonde youth in front of him.

"You will not defeat me, boy" he growled through pain and frustration, his eyes narrowed.

His right arm hung limply by his side, useless, hanging by the last clumps of muscle, skin and sinew. Siegfried raised an eyebrow at this. "You think you can defeat me with only one arm?"

Instead of answering, ran forwards, bringing his sword down towards the knight's chest, his deadened right arm swinging wildly, uncontrollably. Siegfried blocked the attack with Requiem, swinging the sword in a complete circle to try and get the sword moving again.

Siegfried may have been an expert in wielding zweihanders, taught by his father, but expertise couldn't take away the fact that the sword was immensely heavy and it took quite an effort to handle. The idea of using such a big sword was that, rather obviously, it could give powerful, bone-shattering blows, but it had to be constantly moved in a series of attacks to get the full effect of the weapon. Unfortunately, the way Cervantes was attacking him meant that he couldn't move the sword long enough to get any momentum or even attempt to start a series of attacks. He had been constantly on the defensive, trying to manipulate the massive sword into a position to protect him.

In an effort to give himself a chance, the blonde knight kicked out towards Cervantes, who took the blow hard, into his stomach. He stumbled back and slumped onto the floor, momentarily feeling put out. Flicking the sword up behind him, Siegfried ran for Cervantes, jumping into the air, quickly descending on the pirate, who attempted to roll out the way.

It worked, but not completely. Cervantes had rolled, avoiding his main body being hit, but the sword cut through his right arm again, just above the previous wound, completely separating it from the pirates body. It jumped a little on the floor as ebony coloured blood seeped out from the severed limb.

Cervantes cried out again, unused to the feeling of pain and again glared up at Siegfried, who was raising Requiem above his head, about to bring it crashing down into the stricken pirates body. Without thinking, Cervantes kicked at the young man's legs, catching him off guard so that he stumbled and fell to the floor, looking at the ghost like man, an expression of surprise written across his face. Siegfried edged back slightly, raising himself up onto his knees, and reaching out with his right hand for the sword that lay on the stone ground, and without a hint of warning, Cervantes lunged at him, head first, slamming into the metal breastplate Siegfried wore, hard enough to stun himself but knock the German back. Siegfried toppled onto his back, sprawled across the floor and looked up at the greyish black ceiling. He started to reach for Requiem that was lying to his right, after he heard a slight groan that he guessed, originated from the pirate.

"Fool shouldn't have tried to tackle me, I'm wearing a full suit of armour for God's sake, all he did was make me fall back…although now, I do have to get up."

As his fingers closed around the hilt of his sword, Siegfried heard the shuffling sound of Cervantes getting to his feet, and he started to lean forwards, pull himself and the sword up, when the pale grey, gaunt face of the dead pirate appeared over him. With a sadistic smirk the pirate plunged down with Nirvana, certain that the sword would embed itself in the blonde's chest. Desperate not to lose this fight, Siegfried twisted his shoulder, sending Requiem plunging into Cervantes's stomach.

The pirate gasped as he was impaled on the giant sword, his inky black blood coating it like tar, sliding down from his wound and dripping onto the silver breastplate of Siegfried's armour, as he stared down at the blonde youth he snarled in hatred before his body fell limp.

Siegfried, still holding the sword, threw it across the room and then struggling to climb to his feet.

"_Stupid armour! I knew there would be a down side to wearing this."_

Once onto his feet, he stumbled over to the corpse of the pirate, before he gingerly lifted the sword, using his foot to push the dead body off of it, and then wiped the ebony blood onto the coat that was fastened around the pirates shoulders. Turning on his heel, Siegfried swung the zweihander back into place to latch onto his armour and began to walk down the cold corridor in an attempt to find Link and the others. As he rounded the corner to exit the room, he thought he heard a slight growl. Shrugging it off as the tense atmosphere in the large, stone fortress and the whisper of the winds outside bombarding the structure with sand, he made his way towards the centre of the fortress.

--

A.N: Thank you for the reviews (although they have slowed down considerably) and I am currently trying to get back into writing the next chapters. It's a bit difficult at the moment, with all the holidays and Homework and stuff I haven't had time lately, but I hope to get everything back into order again soon. And, I will, at some point (probably when the story is finished) be re-writing a few of the chapters, mainly 5,but whatever.


	11. Burning Souls and Death

Disclaimer: Nope, don't own anything like a game copyright yet.

Chapter 11: Burning Souls and Death

Sheik, Leon and Yunsung turned a corner and walked down the connecting corridor, only to find another dead end chamber.

"Jesus Christ! Whoever built this place is a freaking sadist. It's worse than running through Raccoon!" Leon exclaimed. Yunsung, who was still leaning against Leon, groaned in response.

"Leon, hush. We need to be quiet here, you can hear how much sound echoes throughout this place, can't you?" Sheik scolded in a hushed voice.

"We've been walking around this place trying to find Link and Zelda for 45 minutes, unsuccessfully I might add. They both could be hurt or dead by now!"

"I know, but we have to keep quiet. Getting frustrated isn't going to help."

"Stealth isn't my preferred method."

"I realised that about 5 minutes after I met you. You're a rush in without thinking kind of person. Besides, I thought you were a spy."

"An agent actually, but whatever. And if you think I'm bad, you should meet my brother-in-law, Chris."

The Sheikah just rolled his eyes and turned away. Leon had a tendency to go on about family members endlessly.

"_But maybe if you had lost everyone, including your wife and daughter, you'd be like that too" _Sheik thought. He didn't have a massive family, just his mother, Impa and elder brother, Shiro. Then again, the Sheikah weren't famous for their love of family. In fact, the Sheikah were more _infamous _than anything. Most Sheikah, hell almost every single Sheikah were seen as sociopaths, due to their emotionless exterior and deadly calm and serious demeanour.

"Kennedy and Yunsung to…uhh, Sheikah-ie person, do you copy?"

"Pardon?"

"You kind of zoned out there for a minute."

"Sorry."

"Yeah, well, we should get a move on."

Sheik nodded and turned heading down the corridor, Leon and Yunsung in tow.

"_By the Goddesses, let us find them soon."_

Siegfried was leaning against a wall, eyes closed; trying to concentrate to find where the distant muffled sound of Link's voice was coming from. He guessed that they were quite far ahead, the voices barely discernable below his own heavy breathing. He was still tired from the previous battle, but he (knew he) had to find Link. The problem was there were other sounds mixed with Link's voice. A slight howl of the wind outside, echoing voices from all directions, and the occasional harsh wheezing sound, from where he didn't know. But the echoing was the main problem. Link and now Maxi's slightly raised voices seemed to come from every direction.

"_So try and pick out the strongest one" _his mind hissed at him.

"OK. So we go right," Siegfried muttered to himself, and slowly pushed himself away from the wall, beginning to move.

Liam sat perfectly still and silent on his horse, offering a prayer to every god he knew. The thundering roar of horses' hooves drumming against the ground was full fledged and flooding the air around him with noise. He opened his green eyes, to look at the battle of the horsemen and women that was about to commence.

"_They'll be there in 3, 2…1"_

Milliseconds after that countdown the two armies crashed together, horses letting out sudden desperate whinnies as their riders crashed together and attacked one another. Warriors cries of anger mingled together as they battled, swinging weapons towards their opponents.

From the distance he was at, Liam couldn't make out much of the battle. Dust surrounded the mass, horses and riders were just blurs of colours, swords were just occasional white flashes that lasted seconds, and only happening when the moon's rays hit them. Liam turned in his saddle, looking down at a young soldier beside him and he suddenly felt a stab of anger and pity. The young man by his side was barely fifteen, had only been at the castle for two months had scarcely finished his training. He was too young and inexperienced to go through this. Who had the right to put this boy in danger? No-one, was the only answer. The boy had signed up as a guard, not knowing that battle was just around the corner. And now, because of Ganondorf's deranged, sadistic, psychotic ideas, he was sure to die.

But there was nothing that Liam could do about it now.

"_We sacrifice ourselves to save our country, protect our families, the people we love and care about. To win and emerge victorious. But there can't be any other winners than the Gerudos now. We'll die, and my name and the knights' names will be recorded and go down into history. This boy beside me won't be remembered, except by his family, and in two generations time, his name will be all but forgotten by even his own descendants." _He came out of his reminiscing for just a second, and went back as a final thought struck him

"_In battle, the ones who die are the heroes, not the ones who survive"_

The young soldier beside him suddenly looked up at him, and smiled slightly at him, if a little nervous. Liam returned the smile, barely, just a slight tugging at the corners of his mouth and turned back to watch his men fight.

Link, Maxi, Raphael and 'Sheik' crept along silently, save for the tense, shallow, half-breaths they were taking. They were deep inside the complex now and that screamed for the utmost concentration. But despite their best efforts, they were distracted, their minds fixed on something different from the task in hand. At the back of the group, Raphael followed half-heartedly. He didn't want to be here, he wanted to be back at his mansion, with Amy. There wasn't anyway to get back to his mansion, it had been destroyed, and he and Amy were, not for the first time, homeless. He could get back to Amy, no problem, but if he ran now, the Hylians might turn them out of the castle, and he couldn't afford to do that with the way she was. Though, he didn't think it likely that the Hylians would turn him away, a homeless man with a sick daughter, even if he did betray them.

"_They're too soft and caring to do that. Too gentle and peaceful a race. But this is the only option I have for the moment,"_ he finished that thought with a mental sigh, and focused on his surroundings.

Dull grey walls surrounded them, thin winding corridors, occasionally with a torch attached, lighting the way. Light, padding footsteps and anxious breaths, perhaps the beating of his own heart were the only things to listen to…except.

Raphael straightened suddenly, body tensing, and turned his head slightly, brushing away the clump of blonde hair that covered his ear, and looked around suddenly, light cerulean blue eyes darting around uncertainly. He had heard something, he was sure of it. He didn't imagine things, ever, as a rationalist and a former noble he couldn't possibly. A man like himself simply didn't have an imagination, therefore couldn't possibly imagine things. All he knew was obvious, proven and _real_ facts.

He turned looked up the corridor to the corner where Link was now standing, watching him and turned back towards where he heard the noise.

Maxi walked down to him and whispered, "Raph, c'mon let's go. Link's getting impatient and we're getting near."

Raphael turned back to him and shook his head. "There's something nearby, following us, I'm sure of it."

"It's probably just your imagination, a mouse at most."

"Mice aren't that noisy, and I don't have an imagination."

"Yeah, I realised that after I met you."

"So it has to be something then."

"No, this kind of situation makes us all tense, you're just_ too_ tense."

"I'm not tense and I know what I heard really exists."

"Yeah, right," Maxi muttered, and walked back to Link, telling him what Raphael had said.

Link turned his head away, sighed and rolled his eyes, then motioned for the Frenchman to follow them. Reluctantly, he walked up the corridor towards Link.

"_I know I heard something."_

Siegfried had reached a junction, in a large room, and was milling around it slowly, trying to figure out where to go.

"_How the hell does he expect us to find him? This place is huge and I have three choices, what am I supposed to do now?"_

Sighing, he decided to pick a corridor randomly. _"Ein, Zwei or Drei?" _He turned to his left and said to himself quietly "Rule number one, left is always the right answer."

"And rule number two?" asked a harsh, out of breath voice. Siegfried turned around, his eyes widening when he saw Cervantes standing behind him.

"Never question me," the knight stated, after he had got over his initial shock. He reached behind him quickly, grabbing his sword again and swung it, aiming for Cervantes's neck, just as the pirate slammed the hilt of his sword into Siegfried's face and trailed the blade down after it, the attack continuing from momentum.

But even as Siegfried started to collapse, his attack continued, slicing cleanly into the dead flesh of the Spaniard. The two warriors hit the floor at the same time; Siegfried knocked unconscious, Cervantes dead to the world, the body hitting the floor with a wet 'splat' and the detached head rolling across the floor.

He was uneasy. Link could sense it; Raphael had been shifting restlessly and glancing behind them whenever they stopped. He soon found out why, Raphael hadn't been imagining things.

They had found a small slope leading upwards and left and had taken it, sure that it was the way to Ganon because of the rough barking coughs they had heard. But it had been the wrong way, and they now found themselves on a large, high balcony, that allowed whoever stood on it to see over the far wall and into the desert behind it.

"Ah, so that's the desert" Maxi had exclaimed

"Mmm hmm" had been Link's only response.

Seconds later there was a soft growling sound behind them, and they turned 180° to see a large, scaly, green…thing standing behind them.

"I _hate_ to say I told you so," said Raphael sarcastically, "but…I told you so."

"OH, SHUT UP!!!!"

The green creature, Necrid, who had once been human, stood still, looking at them, glowing red eyes narrowing as it tried to decide who to attack.

To Link and Maxi's surprise, Raphael stepped forward, flicking his rapier into sight so quickly it was just a silver flash.

"You go, I'll take care of this," the Frenchman said his voice suddenly so low it was barely audible. Link stopped and stared at him, blinking in surprise and uncertainty, before slowly nodding and motioning for Sheik and Maxi to follow him back inside.

Raphael glared up at the Necrid, ice blue eyes narrowed, his left hand that held his rapier twitching slightly. Stepping to his right to get the battle started, Necrid mirrored him, stepping to the left, producing a ball of somehow black light in his hand, green dancing waves of power webbing over it, criss-crossing into abstract, magic patterns. The weapon, such as it was, was no stranger to Raphael any longer and he barely registered its strange appearance, only noting that it was there, and it was dangerous. Taking another careful side step, he continued to move in a circle, Necrid matching him pace for pace. Staring each other down the two didn't attack until…

With an inhuman growl, Necrid lunged for the French fencer, left clawed hand outstretched. The ball of light suddenly transformed into a network of neon green beams in the loose outline of an axe and began to sink towards Raphael. The former aristocrat, expecting such a crude attack, stepped back and raised his Rapier into a vertical position, held close to his body to make sure the blade didn't jar when it was struck. The practically inexistent weapon slammed into the suddenly solid looking metal blade of the rapier sword, with an odd 'vwing' sound. But the infected creature's clawed left hand was still coming and the blonde Frenchman had only seconds to move before the talons slammed into the side of his head. Seeing it coming, he ducked, the claws missing his head by inches, piercing the air as they whistled past his head, and continuing on their journey, making Necrid spin with the momentum.

With the presented opportunity, Raphael thrust forward with the rapier, his arm outstretched and moving to the right in a crude swipe, barely slicing into the dark green scales, making a small scratch.

"_Ok, I shouldn't have taken this on. Why do I never remember that his scales are practically impenetrable? If you weren't in such a rush to get the fight over and done with…but they're only practically impenetrable, not totally…"_

"_Not going to last much longer, can't last much longer"_

Liam looked to the battle anxiously, seeing the faint black shapes that were men and women's bodies fallen on the floor having been struck down from their horses. The free Hylian horses themselves had cantered back towards the Hylian Army, searching for an owner to care for them after the battle. They had been quickly led to the back of the ranks to rest for a few minutes before being re-mounted by a new soldier.

The mass that was the battle was now, mainly, just tan and purple colours, the Gerudos emerging more victorious very second.

Finally, the last few Hylian riders turned and rode back to the Hylian ranks, pulling up a couple of survivors with them if they could.

As the few rode back the Gerudos circled around on the hill top, their entire army silhouetted by faint light.

"So we come to it at last," Liam muttered, and felt the young soldier standing next to him start in surprise at his commander's comment.

Ignoring the boy for the moment he turned back in the saddle, a cry of "ARCHERS!!" tearing from his throat, watching as each man on the high wall drew a bow and nocked an arrow to it, aiming as far as they could. Nodding to a few leaders of the ranks, they came forward and crowded around him.

"Set up a defence on the front row two rows of shields. On the flanks I want archers with a few men in front, guarding them. With any luck the Gerudos will be so busy attacking the centre of the army, they won't notice the archers on the ground. Tell all men in the front three columns and all rows in them to draw swords or spears."

The men nodded and trotted off on horse back, shouting commands to the ranks.

Finally, Liam looked to the boy, who was trembling slightly, and laid a hand on his shoulder. He had the urge to tell him to get out of the ranks and go home, but he had heard enough about him to know that he wouldn't. Instead he merely said,

"Do you think you're really ready for this?"

"I...I…think so sir."

"…Well, then make the country proud, and fight as hard as you can…but don't lose your life foolishly. If a Gerudo is obviously going to beat you, move away. There is no shame in retreating to regroup and gather yourself, only in running away. Don't throw your life away. You're only a couple of years younger than me and I've been told I'm too young to die now."

"Do you believe that?"

"…Maybe. I haven't ever really thought about it. I've dedicated my life to the Royal Family, and if I die doing it, well, it was my choice after all. But I still take my own advice about backing away and regrouping. I may be dedicated, but I still don't _want _to die"

Liam didn't receive a definite response from the soldier but could have sworn he had heard

"Same here…I hope I can serve well, like you."

Necrid let out a low growl of frustration and threw it's head back, before clenching its green hands into fists and charging for Raphael again, flicking the Enigma weapon into a sword shape and swing it at the Frenchman, who jumped forwards, thrusting the sword towards it. The tip of the sword scraped along the amber glowing stone that was strapped to Necrid's chest.

Irritated Raphael stepped back from the attack and resumed circling Necrid.

"_Damnit! He's too fast"_

Suddenly stepping out of the circle he swiped at Necrid, then executed an attack in the form of a flurry of quick thrusts. Once he had finished the attack he jumped back and held the Rapier diagonally, absently wiping a few flecks of fluids off his clothes, grimacing at it in disgust. The attack had left a few tiny, shallow wounds in Necrid's shoulders, arms and stomach. The rest of him was too well protected by either the metal plates he wore, or his scales.

Necrid blinked at the wounds, seeming to only absently note that they were there, and then looked at Raphael, as if challenging him. Before Raphael knew what was happening, he was on the floor, Necrid standing over him…raising a flickering green sword high above his head.

And suddenly it was down, buried in the Frenchman's stomach, making him cry out as lightening bolts of pain shot through his body, making him tense and convulse, and then he was lying still, eyes closed, features pale, chest barely rising.

With a disgusted sort of snort, Necrid turned away, the sword shape forming back into a ball, the ball disappearing. He walked away, and as he turned his back on the injured man, Raphael got up and charged at him. Necrid spun around quickly, just to see a rapier pierce his shoulder and with a cry of pain and rage, slammed his left clawed fist into Raphael's stomach, forcing him back, ripping the blade out of his shoulder.

Raphael grunted, stumbling backwards to regain his balance after the tremendous force of the punch, hitting the low railings behind him, and looking over them to see the long drop down, eyes widening, he had an idea.

Lurching forward, his right arm in front of him like a quarterback, Raphael hurled himself at Necrid, his elbow hitting the mouldy green creature in its chiselled abdomen, bringing flamberge up and swiping at the creatures face with it, gashing its cheek. A green, putrid almost gel-like looking blood oozed from the wound, practically solid as it dropped and hit the floor, with an odd squelching sound, like a leech splating against the ground.

Raphael raised an eyebrow at the jelly-like substance before looking up and charging again, using brash, crude and brutal techniques, his usual style cast aside for the moment. His sword darted left, right, up, down, thrust forward, rotated sharply, any desperate move that would hurt the creature, he _had _to weaken him…for Amy.

Necrid retreated for a moment, backed away, assessed his enemy, snorting to breathe quickly through its nose, so as not to pant. This human was desperate, wild, and oddly uncontrolled…Necrid had fought him before and this wasn't his fighting style.

Taking a step forward, Necrid stared at the blonde man, eyes narrowed at him and brought his arm back and threw it forwards to punch the man, and when he dodged out the way, carried himself into a spin, his fist slamming into the back of the man's head, and he collapsed to the floor, groaning, rolling onto his back, holding the back of his head with his left hand.

Raphael fell to the floor with the sudden force on the back of his head, and rolled over to face his offender. It wasn't a good idea to turn your back on your enemy for too long, even (especially) if you were injured. Using one elbow to support himself, Raphael ran his left hand over the back of his head, gloved fingers searching for any wounds. There were none, Necrid's punch had knocked him into a state of dizziness for a second but nothing more. Wincing, he pushed himself to his feet and grabbed his sword, breathing deeply. Losing his head (no pun intended) wasn't going to help, he had to be calm to save Amy. Raising his sword so that the blade was running down the centre of his face, he stood back and waited for Necrid. But it appeared Necrid was also playing the waiting game. Standing perfectly still for a moment, Raphael eventually lowered his sword to his side. Necrid suddenly threw himself into an attack.

The next few moments passed so quickly that Raphael barely had time to register what happened. One minute Necrid was in front of him, the next the creature was hanging over the railings of the balcony. The creature had rushed at Raphael, one arm outstretched. He had slammed the Frenchman back into the wall behind them, grabbing him around the throat with its free smaller right hand tried to choke him to death.

But Raphael hadn't been ready to give up and in an amazing feat of strength, speed and skill had pried Necrid's fingers from around his neck, slammed the guard of his sword into the creatures hand and broken it. While Necrid screamed in pain, Raphael had dashed forward, thrust his sword through the creature's right shoulder, pivoted it around slammed him into the floor and used Flamberge to keep the Necrid pinned to the ground. Supporting himself with the sword Raphael had flung himself round in a circle, stood and stamped on Necrid's chest and ripped the sword out of its shoulder. While Necrid had arched up in pain, the Frenchman stuck his foot in the small of the back and flipped it over. Necrid had managed to crawl to his feet and turned to face Raphael, to see the silver blade of Flamberge sinking into the glowing amber sphere on his chest. Shocked, the creature had stumbled backwards and tripped over the railings on the balcony.

That's where it was now, hanging off the balcony with the claws, slipping ever downwards. Recovering himself, Raphael strode forwards, looking down at the now almost pitiful creature and almost feeling sorry for it. But he was Raphael Sorel, and he didn't feel pity for anything, except his daughter, and with that sentiment, Raphael slipped the blade of his sword under Necrid's claws and in one simple, powerful movement, sliced clean through them.

Necrid hit the black roof of the fortress, face first, with an almost sickening thud and the sound of crunching glass. Managing to roll itself over, Raphael saw that the amber glass dome on its chest was completely shattered, the last traces of orange and yellow light fading and disappearing into black cold night of the valley. The red from its eyes seemed to fade to black before closing, like blood coagulating, before the power of life slipped away from the creature.

Breathing the chilly night air in deeply, Raphael looked across at the dull, creamy desert, before turning back inside.

Amy needed him and he had to get back to her. Stepping inside, and making his way down the slope, Raphael heard a dull growl from deep beneath the fortress. Curious, he headed for it. Amy would be fine for now, besides, he hadn't finished his job yet. Interested in the inhuman sound, he made his way deeper inside the fortress, unaware that he was following Link's path, and more so that the boy would lead him to one of the greatest battles of his life.

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A.N: I apologise for the wait. Rosie(my proof reader)forgot to send this back to me at the normal time and I didn't get a chance to put it up last monday because I was on a trip with my school. Sorry for the wait, blame Rosie, not me. :)


	12. Gathering of Revived Dragons and War

A.N: Thank you for all the reviews, I'm working hard at the moment to get chapter 13 ready for next Monday.

Chapter 12: Gathering of revived dragons and War

A rain of arrows suddenly streaked across the dark grayish blue sky, landing a couple of meters from the base of the far off hill.

Watching from horseback at the front of the ranks, Liam saw Gerudos crumple to the floor, collapsing as arrow heads were buried in their flesh. The larger, all-woman army had finally decided to attack the Hylians with their infantry, which were now marching towards the Hylian men.

"_Come on then. You'll find that we Hylians have not lost our courage"_

The Gerudos were rapidly advancing, already half-way across the plain and now drawing scimitars, spears and shields.

Another load of arrows were sent out, knocking down a few more Gerudos, but the army was still larger than the Hylians, with far more mounted women riding on either side of the army, a few yards in front of the infantry.

With a quick movement of his hand, Liam signaled for the remaining cavalry to move forwards and try to take out the Gerudo women on horseback.

The Gerudo infantry had gained a few more meters, and the thud of each perfectly timed footstep that rose and fell with the hundred or more others, beat in time with Liam's heart. He watched as they came closer, closer, closer. Closing the gap, first breaking into a jog, then a flat out run, and watching the horses of the remaining Hylian cavalry and their riders, clashing with the Gerudos.

Liam saw it all in near slow motion, watched as his men drew their swords and other weapons, the first few rows of shields being put up.

With a shout from the back of the group, he retreated to the back of the ranks meeting up with the other knights, telling them what to do, how to attack.

Finally, he turned just in time to witness the Gerudo army smashing into the Hylians with loud battle cries. Turning back to the knights, he moved into position, closing his eyes and praying before drawing his sword and shield and watching the battle, hoping that Link was going to reach Ganon soon.

Link ran round the corner at full speed, Maxi and Sheik following closely behind. He knew in his heart that the Gerudo and Hylian armies were in full battle. Only just started maybe, but it didn't take long for armies to heat up and the Gerudos were swift, merciless killers.

Desperate to find Ganondorf, Link tore through the corridors, making his way deeper and deeper into the fortress. He was so close now, he could feel it, could sense the power of the Triforce resonating as he raced towards Ganon's chambers.

Maxi ran just behind Link, desperately trying to keep up; the Hylian boy had gone into a sudden frenzy and raced off saying something about the Hylians being attacked. Confused as he was, Maxi kept running, panting madly, while Link was practically untiring. There were also inhuman growls sounding around the fortress, but it didn't sound like Astaroth.

Running through a training room of some sort Maxi didn't notice him until they were almost out.

"Going somewhere, worms?"

Leon was wandering around the fortress on his own, trying to find Sheik and Yunsung. The two had kept going when he thought he had heard something outside and had stopped to listen. They had apparently wandered off, and now he was lost.

"_Damnit!"_

He cursed under his breath and continually muttered to himself as he walked around corners, took random turns and entered several empty dormitories of the middle class Gerudos. He frowned at the rooms, gingerly stepping over women's underwear and pushing some less-than-wholesome books out if the way with his foot and trying to avert his eyes from the pictures in them, feeling almost disgusted. Swallowing, he exited the room… to enter a shower room sort of place.

"Sh…"

Growling, Leon turned around and sprinted back through the bedrooms, retracing his steps up the corridor and away.

Yunsung and Sheik stopped at the sound of a semi-conscious groan, peeking over the top of a stack of crates at the origin of it.

Yunsung by now had recovered from his wounds some, and was starting to get some if his energy back, along with his excitement. When he saw who the cause of the groan was, he smirked and snorted, walking around the crated and kneeling down next to the fallen man and rolling him over.

"Well, Siggy, you really don't look so good," he commented, kneeling over the top of the blonde German, who seemed to have suddenly come back to his senses. He glared up at the Korean and swiped irritably at his face, knocking him out the way. Climbing to his feet shakily, Siegfried steadied himself, using the wall to prop himself up.

Sheik was examining the corpse lying on the floor.

"Cervantes," Yunsung commented "He was a Spanish pirate; he held Soul Edge before Siggy did. I guess he wanted it back."

"No kidding," Siegfried muttered pushing himself away from the wall.

"If you're well enough, we should move on," Sheik said to Siegfried, who nodded, if somewhat unsurely, and pointed at the direction in which Link had gone.

Maxi turned slowly at the sound of that voice, slipping the nunchaku from around his neck and into his hand, before flicking the other piece into his armpit.

Glaring at the giant, purple man for a moment he replied to Astaroths comment.

"Away from your stench…so, do you remember me this time, freak?"

The creature snorted, and hefted its gigantic axe from off its shoulder, toting it with one hand, propping himself up with it.

Standing at the doorway, Link found it hard to believe that Maxi was so confident in taking Astaroth on with just two sticks.

Turning his neck just enough to see the two Hyrulians, Maxi said:

"You should get out of here and get to Ganondorf. I'll take care of worm boy here."

"You sure?" Link asked, glancing uneasily at the weapon in Maxi's hand, which seemed to have all the offensive might of the Andrex puppy, and then at Astaroth and the huge weapon he held.

Nodding at Link, Maxi casually turned back to Astaroth and twirled the Nunchaku in his hand and then swung it back into place, under his arm.

Stopping to look at the two warriors one moment more, Link turned and ran out of the training room, circling down the dark stairs to Ganon's personal chambers.

Raphael trotted down the corridor, stepping nimbly over a few bugs creeping over the floor, frowning at them in disgust before missing his footing and treading on one. It crunched underneath his foot and he scowled before lifting his foot and scraping the scarab like creature off his boot with a small dagger he kept with him, wiping it on a nearby crate.

Grimacing, he walked on, trying to avoid any more offensive creatures.

Maxi backed up to a wall, right inside on of the weapon cupboards, finding a small crate and crouching down on it. Astaroth stood in the middle of the room, his back to the pirate, apparently deciding that he wasn't a threat, despite the fact that he had killed him twice before.

Holding a position for a minute and watching Astaroth, Maxi knew that the giant was waiting for him to make the first move, which would be a bad idea. However, it was the only way to get the battle started. Breathing in deeply to gather himself before the attack, Maxi closed his eyes for a moment. As he did, images of dead men lying on a blood stained deck of a ship flashed through his mind, and that was the end of patience and waiting. With a high pitched war cry, Maxi flung himself towards Astaroth, brandishing the nunchaku.

Turning around to face the on-coming pirate, Astaroth lifted the axe, ready to crush Maxi. Too late. He had just enough time to see the nunchaku coming slamming down onto his shoulder, knocking him backwards.

Steadying himself, Astaroth snorted at the human in front of him.

"You all look the same to me, little bug."

Growling loudly, Maxi took a few steps back, jumping up to avoid the knee-height horizontal swing that Astaroth took at him. Landing, his feet were only on the floor for a couple of seconds before Maxi launched himself towards the golem. Dashing towards and thrusting his weapon into Astaroth, the pirate slammed into him, the thick wood pummelling into its chest with a solid slapping sound.

Roaring in pain and anger, Astaroth took a step back, eyes narrowing at his assailant and raising the giant axe, Kulutues. Hefting it above his head, he sent it crashing to the floor, splintering and ripping through the floor in a firework display of black stone, cement and slate, churning the ground.

Maxi brought his arm down from over his face, which he had raised to protect himself, he studied the enraged giant, checking him for injuries. Some slight bruises on its chest and shoulders…that was all. It was a pity that nunchakus didn't hurt Astaroth as much as a normal person, because they would probably be in a fair amount of pain by now. Unfortunately for Maxi, Astaroth didn't feel as much pain as a human being, leaving him at a distinct disadvantage. Using a nunchaku was hard, it took a lot of strength, skill and speed to inflict any real damage, and while it was a good weapon to prove you had those qualities; it didn't bode well for you if you had to use it in a battle to the death. Especially if you were fighting against a six foot three golem, with arms like tree trunks and using an axe that Mars, the god of war himself would use. The nunchaku was designed to beat your opponent by crippling them with pain and soreness, and shattering bones. But of course, this didn't work on a golem whose bones were probably at least five times stronger than is natural. Enraged, Astaroth walked to a corner of the room, readying himself for an attack.

Liam glanced down at the line of knights extending to his left and right. 98 men, not including himself, and Link wasn't here at the moment. 98 men, trained to the highest Hylian standards, all high ranking men; all honoured and trusted. 98 men, all older than him, and all looking at him to lead them into an attack.

Glancing at the battle, only a matter of 300 yards or so in front of him, Liam wasn't sure he could. He was a kid really, a seventeen year old lad who relied on his 'twin' brother, Link, to lend him strength and courage. When Liam had last seen his father, the man had stated that he relied on Link too much, that he needed to learn to live without his closest friend, because he wouldn't be around to 'hold his hand' forever, as he put it. He had not said it out of concern for Liam, but merely as a spiteful comment directed towards the 'screw-up' and 'mistake' of the family. Nevertheless, Liam wished he had taken his comment to heart more than ever now. He was alone again, and Link wouldn't be back for a while yet. He couldn't help him out right now.

"…_But, I have to lead this army. I can't bail out now, not after what I said to that soldier."_ Glancing up, Liam caught a glimpse of that same young soldier; saw the look of scared determination on his face. Scared but stubborn, the way of the Hylian soldier. The fear is what kept them alive, the instinct to keep fighting; to survive. Watching the boy for a few seconds longer as he prepared to run into battle, Liam saw him draw himself up, set his shoulders back and raise his head.

"_If that boy can be willing to risk his life in battle, when he has so much, then surely I can lead these men without Link's help."_

Following the boys example, he straightened up, and brought his sword to his heart then his lips. Kissing the blade lightly, in the Hylian knights symbol of loyalty, he rested his forehead against it for a second. Seeing the men follow his example through the corner of his eye he whispered,

"For Hyrule."

The last few ranks joined in the battle, and Liam raised his horse up on its hind legs, before bellowing

"FOR THE GODDESSES!"

Surging forwards, he lowered his sword into position and sighted in on the battle.

Maxi hit the floor, gasping for breath, blood pouring from the wound in his stomach, his body involuntarily twisting in pain. Lifting his head, he stared at Astaroth through tear blurred eyes and pulled himself to his feet. Scooping up the dropped nunchaku, he tried to settle back into position, trying to ignore the sharp agony slicing through his stomach. By the time he was concentrated again, the golem was rushing at him, axe lowered so the blade faced the floor. Charging forwards, he knocked Maxi back into the wall, the bricks behind the pirates back shifting from the force. Sinking down slightly and taking a step to steady himself, Maxi glared at Astaroth, watching him warily as it charged up an attack granted to him by the god, Mars, its body starting to be webbed with a sparkling neon green light. When it decided it was ready, Astaroth attacked, slamming the axe down mere inches away from where Maxi's foot had been only seconds before. Using the giant's sudden decrease in height to his advantage, Maxi jumped for Astaroth, swinging the nunchaku at his head as it stared up at him, looking suddenly scared. The wood fully impacted on the side of Astaroth's head, hitting the ear of the creature with a slight cracking sound. His body falling, Maxi hit the floor heavily, tucking himself into a late shoulder roll, hitting the wall with his shoulder blade. Twisting quickly to right his body, Maxi pushed his legs off the wall, so that he was lying on his back. Hearing the sound of Astaroth getting up, Maxi struggled to get to his feet. As his waist bent, he cried out loudly at a bolt of fiery pain that roared through his stomach. Rolling to his side, he pulled himself onto all fours, stumbling upright, only to be slammed back into a wall and pinned there by the weight of Astaroth.

Astaroth grinned down at the pathetic human who was desperately struggling to push away the axe handle that had been placed across his neck

His smile widening, Astaroth began to repeatedly thrust his knee into Maxi's wounded stomach. When his legs began to tremble he pulled the axe away, letting the dark-haired man fall to the floor, but not before he smashed him across the head with the axe.

Lying on the floor Maxi whimpered pathetically, blinking away the blood that dripped into his eye from the wound on the side of his head. He saw a shadow being cast over him from some weak light, felt Astaroth's presence leaning over him, his heavy breathing loud in Maxi's ears. Dreading what was going to happen he shut his eyes. Astaroth's massive hand grabbed the back of his neck, hefting him to his feet. Grimacing at the feel of the cold, clammy hand on his neck, he began his struggles anew. Turning Maxi around Astaroth glared into his face and spat out at him,

"Stop struggling, worm**s**."

Glaring at him Maxi felt around the floor with his feet, and feeling something wooden, flicked it up with his foot. Catching it in his hand he pushed against Astaroth's chest, forcing it away from him. With a last ounce of strength he jumped over Astaroth's hunched form, grabbing it by the shoulder and swinging himself onto its back. Astaroth screamed in fury, trying to grab Maxi from off his back.

Maintaining his grip with his legs, Maxi raised the nunchaku over his head, clasping the two pieces of wood together and slamming them down into Astaroth's skull.

A jet of blood spurted out onto Maxi's face and he dropped off Astaroth's back, hitting the ground with a gasp, the breath forced out of his lungs.

Out of the corner of his darkening eyes, he saw Astaroth fall to the floor, the massive purple body thudding heavily, blood still running from the caved in bone.

Giving a self satisfied smile at his accomplishment, Maxi closed his eyes.

"_Link'll be fine…"_

Breathing deeply, he slipped into unconsciousness, thoughts of his friends and comrades playing over in his mind.

-

Thanks again I hope to see some more reviews soon.


	13. Master and Monster

A.N:Thanks once again to all the people who have reviewed, we are finally drawing neat to the end. Chapter 16 will be the last. Chapter 14 will hopefully be up next Monday. Oh and there are slight rape implications in this chapter, very weak, but still there

Lord Crimson - You might find something you mentioned in your review in chapter 14

Chapter 13: Master and Monster

Link slowed his pace, walking through the flickering passage, Sheik just behind, the two Hyrulian's breath coming in short gasps. Ahead of them was a set of ebony double doors, a pair of burning white torches either side of the door, tinted with purple.

"So this is Ganondorf's chambers?" Sheik asked, Link nodded in response, his heart beating abnormally fast.

"How did you know your way here?"

"Nabooru."

"Nabooru? Why would the spirit sage lead you here?" Sheik questioned, one eyebrow arched. For some reason he seemed rather perturbed about the fact, almost jealous.

"Well these are her rooms, but she uses them as a meeting room a lot of the time."

Link looked back, saw some of the jealousy fade, but anxiousness take over.

"So…you ready to take Ganondorf down with me?"

Red eyes hardening in determination, Sheik nodded.

Link stepped forward, placed both hands on either side of the gap in the middle and pushed the doors open.

Leon trotted through the complex, trying to get his breath back. Sitting down on some nearby crates, pulling out his gun and checking it over, making sure the handgun was fully loaded and sighing heavily, shrugging the other weapon off his back. He had somehow managed to find his way back to the outside of the complex and after the inhuman roars he had heard earlier, he had thought to grab a bigger gun, just to be prepared. Looking down at it, he couldn't believe how paranoid he was, that he had that thing with him.

"_Man, there's something wrong with me…I can't believe I actually had this thing with me when I was running from those freaks. More precisely, I can't believe I didn't use it to blast the bastards away. I mean, it's a bloody massive rocket launcher for god sake"_

Shaking his head down at the weapon, he stretched his back and pulled it back on. All in all his arsenal consisted of a standard issue Beretta, a desert eagle magnum, a Remington shotgun and a rocket launcher. Oh, and about 5 incendiary grenades. Talk about firepower. And enough ammo to do a bank raid. Standing, he started off in a quick jog, retracing his steps back into the complex, remembering when to turn.

The real Sheik, Yunsung and Siegfried walked along a narrow corridor, Siegfried being supported by Yunsung. His head was throbbing; his body sore and he constantly felt nauseous. Yunsung shifted slightly, moving the German slightly so he could support him better. Sheik was a few steps ahead, listening out for any signs of danger.

A sudden crunch made Yunsung look down and he grimaced. The entire floor was littered with bugs, and he had just stepped on one and just a few steps in front of him, over a crate, there was another crushed one that had apparently been scraped off someone's shoe. While Yunsung started stepping between the bugs, trying not to make any more green patches on the floor, it seemed Siegfried didn't care. He strode forward, casually stepping on bugs and enjoying the satisfying crunching sounds that accompanied the death of them. Turning around and watching Siegfried casually crunching bugs, Sheik glared at him. Siegfried returned the gesture before shrugging and pushing the bugs out of the way with his foot. Rolling his eyes, the Sheikah turned the corner, disappearing out of sight.

Raphael stopped for a moment, hearing heavy panting from the room ahead, followed by a groaning sound. Carefully, he made his way to the opposite wall, pressing his back against it and peering around the corner slightly. When he saw who it was he snorted smugly and smirked, stepping into the room and walking towards the figure who was trying to push himself off the floor.

"Another victory for the valiant Japanese, I see," Raphael commented, looking at the large, pale purple mass of Astaroth's body.

Finally managing to push himself to sit on his haunches, Maxi turned and glared at the Frenchman, wincing slightly as the wound on his head re-opened, bright red blood soaking into the already blood crusted hair.

Seeing the blood beginning to flow from a wound on Maxi's head, Raphael walked round to his front, taking in all the injuries that the dark-haired pirate had received. Four large oval shaped bruises had formed on the side of his neck, towards the back, and another, larger one on the opposite side, slightly more forwards than the others. His abdomen had been sliced open, coating his lower waist, hips and thighs in gradually darkening blood, the pure white cloth stained an ugly, blackening scarlet as it dried out. Finally, the whole abdomen, and some of his lower chest, was covered in purple, blue and black bruises and a slight lump on Maxi's ribcage had alerted Raphael to the fact that at least one of the ribs had been completely cracked in half and bent to an angle that made it protrude.

Sighing, the French man walked to Maxi's side and crouched down, waiting for him to sling his arm over his shoulders. Maxi stared at him oddly for a moment before reaching to grasp his nunchaku, slinging it over his own neck and slipping his arm over Raphael's shoulders.

Liam raised his sword, sending it plunging into a Gerudo woman's chest, and watched as she gasped, slipping off her horse and falling to the floor. Stopping and turning, Liam stared at the carnage and bloodshed that was taking place all around him, horrified and dismayed by the vicious nature of the races of Hyrule. The usually peaceful Hylians were determined and perfectly willing to die if they needed to. A sudden sword whistling past his face brought him back and he turned to see a Gerudo woman, dressed in red instead of purple, sitting on a horse in front of him. Being dressed in red meant she was one of the higher guards, which meant she was incredibly dangerous.

Liam remembered Link telling him how savage the higher guards could be, how they had vicious, brutal moves that they could execute without difficulty. Moves that the toughest Hylian men sometimes couldn't perform. Link had gotten lucky when he first fought the Gerudos, lucky that his enemies had gradually increased in skill, so that he was ready to take on these women. Liam wasn't. Not only that but Liam rarely killed humans before now, most Hylian soldiers were lucky enough to only have to fight monsters. Creatures that didn't grimace or scream in pain when they were impaled. The Gerudos, no matter how strong, tough and skilled, were still human, still cried out in pain, and so Liam still hated killing them, even if they were trying to kill him.

Moving his horse back a few steps, Liam prepared himself, raising his shield as she came charging forwards. Her spear hit the shield with a tremendous amount of force and Liam found himself having to squeeze his legs tighter around his horse, the attack threatening to knock him off. Bringing the shield down he turned, and urged his horse towards the woman's, pushing it into a canter, as she charged forward, lowering her spear. At the last moment, he bent his body out of the way, and thrusting his sword backwards, striking the woman's wrist as she continued past. She screamed and dropped the spear, before turning around and drawing the two white scimitars that lay across her back.

Link breathed in deeply as he stepped into Ganondorf's chamber, scenting the familiar heavy smell that constantly surrounded the evil king. It was a heavy smothering smell, a mixture of masculine sweat, blood and power. It was one of those smells that you couldn't describe, but you knew instantly, a smell that could only be described as evil and depressive. Looking back at Sheik, Link saw him gag and choke, not used to the oppressive stench. Turning back he looked round the room; saw it strewn with weapons, clothing and food remnants. There were also a few candles, satin sheets on the massive bed that took up the left side of the room, and various pieces of golden objects scattered around as if to give some hint that the room was cared for. Everything was large, dark, bold, strong, and robust; everything demanded attention, all at once, clamoured for it. It was in a word, masculine. It seemed strange to see such an obviously male room, in a feminine territory, especially when Link noticed the inhabitant of the room.

A small shadowy figure curled up in the top corner of the bed, her face pressed into the pillow. Link walked towards her, slowly and warily, keeping his attention firmly on her, squinting to try and see who she was. When he stood at the side of the bed, it became apparent who it was.

"Nabooru?" he whispered, and the figure looked up. She stared at him for a moment, before wiping her face with the back of her hand and sniffing heavily.

Sheik, who had been standing near the door watching, came forwards now, and held his hand out to her. Looking at him uncertainly, she finally took his hand and let him pull her off the bed. Link stared in horror at Nabooru. He could see now, just why she had been curled up on the bed, crying and hiding. She was wearing what had once been beautifully crafted golden robes that flowed around her, accentuating her figure. They now hung limp and ripped into strands of cloth, adding to her appearance of abuse, but they in no way compared to her body.

Nabooru was queen of the Gerudos, but she considered herself on the same level as all the women of the race and as such looked almost identical. As a fighter, she had gained some muscle but had stayed lithe and slim in the style of the Gerudo thieves. The woman in front of Link had lost all muscle and weight; her skin clung to her bones, outlines of her ribs seeming to be engraved into her dark skin. Her fire red hair was greasy and lay plastered to her shoulders and back. Her body was covered in lacerations, bruises and new formed scars, a testament to her 'punishment'. But the thing that Link noticed most was her eyes. Nabooru may have been in her early thirties, with an occasional seriousness to match, but for the most part, she was childlike, open and friendly, treating Link like a little brother and kidding with him openly. After all the help he had given her over the time they'd known each other, she trusted him more than her own mother and would always take him in if he ever needed to be taken care of. Her golden eyes had shown this once, but not anymore. They were downcast, dull and sullen, sunken like the rest of her formerly beautiful features.

Stepping forwards and gently taking her hand, he mustered the softest and calmest voice he could, hesitating, before asking;

"What happened to you?"

She looked up at him and limped towards him, and he stepped forwards to support her. Lifting her mouth to his pointed ear, she replied in a pained, hoarse voice;

"Ganon, h..he didn't like the fact that I'm a sage, that I helped you…he decided to p..punish me" She glanced down at her broken body, and Link followed her gaze, finally realizing that beatings weren't the only way he had hurt her.

Angered that Ganon would hurt Nabooru like this (but not surprised) he gently lifted her and carried her to the far side of the room, gently lying her down and signalling for Sheik to guard her. Walking into the centre of the room, he felt Sheik grab him by the shoulder and heard him whisper in such a quiet voice that he could barely hear it;

"…he ra…" he didn't finish his almost question. More precisely, Link didn't hear it. Sheik's suddenly timid voice was lost to the sound of Ganondorf's laughter. Scowling, Link pushed Sheik towards Nabooru and prepared to meet his Nemesis.

Leon glanced to his left, into a room at the end of a corridor and saw a black stain on the floor, along with a detached limb. He didn't know who it belonged to but presumably they were dead now. Especially considering the extent of their blood loss. Guessing that the person hadn't been finished off, from the trail of black blood that led from the room and up the corridor, he started to follow the trail, thanking the dead person (even if they were evil) that they had probably led him, some of the way, to Link and Zelda.

Liam ducked as one of the swords swiped over his head, and raised his sword to his chest, blocking the Gerudos other sword and pushing it away. She snorted at him in annoyance, glancing once again at his no-longer bleeding wound and her own. A few minutes after the start of their fight, she had managed to score a blow on his right thigh, but at the same time he had lashed out at her, hitting her under the ribs.

With a renewed fury she bypassed using her weapons and jumped off her horse, onto him, causing them to topple to the floor and hit the ground, hard. Liam gasped loudly, winded by the force of the ground suddenly against his back, and tried to roll away from the woman, but she had managed to land on her hands and knees, shocking them slightly but not putting herself at a disadvantage. Standing up, she looked down on him, and upon realising that she had lost her own weapons, grabbed Liam's instead. She grinned at him cruelly, and then swiped at his face with his sword, just as he found the strength to move out of the way. The sword hit him at the middle of his hairline and slashed diagonally to the Gerudos right, forming a stream of blood behind, travelling down over his closed left eye as he pushed himself away. Kneeling, Liam lifted his hand to his face, feeling along the wound, finding that it ended halfway down his cheek. Trying to find out if it had damaged his eye, Liam opened it and cried out, partly from the sudden rush of blood onto his eye and partly from the sword that had just pierced his side.

Maxi and Raphael made their way towards Link very slowly. While Raphael was eager to get to the battle and see Link's fighting abilities, Maxi wasn't. Well, maybe _wasn't,_ isn't the correct term. _Couldn't _would better describe it. Drops of blood spattered against Maxi's trousers and the floor, dripping from his bleeding abdomen. Despite the fact that he was weak and faint from blood loss, his skin a deathly white as a result, he was determined to get to Link without stopping.

Seeing Maxi become weaker with each limping step, Raphael steered the pirate to a corner and pushed him to the floor.

"Raph? What are you doing? We've gotta get to Link" Maxi rasped

Raphael didn't answer, just stood up and looked down at himself, seeming to search for something. Finding what he was looking for, he grabbed the red piece of cloth that hung down by his right hip and untied it before kneeling down next to Maxi and gesturing for him to sit up. Doing as he was asked, Maxi straightened his back, wincing in pain again from the movement. Tying the cloth around Maxi's waist in an attempt to help stop the blood from being lost, Raphael wiped the blood on his trouser legs before standing up and pulling the pirate up behind him, supporting him as they started along the corridor again.

Link scowled at the shadowy figure that was emerging from the door way opposite, his hatred growing with every slow measured step that Ganondorf took.

The evil king finally entered the room, letting the scarce candlelight play across his broad, grotesque features as he smirked at Link, as he always did whenever he saw him.

"Well, well fairy boy. You're here in time I see?"

"In time for what, exactly?"

"My victory, of course."

"Don't be so sure you've won yet Ganon, you'll have to kill me before you have victory."

"Which I will be sure to do this time…tell me, Link. How is the Hylian army going to win against mine? Hmm? As I see it, the men on your side are under trained and under equipped not to mention cowards."

"Shut up. You'll see, we believe in our cause more than the women of your army do."

"I see, so you believe that belief will save you…amusing, the Hylians pathetic belief that the Goddesses favour them still exist"

"…Come on then Ganon, we'll see if the goddesses favour me or you with the victor of this battle won't we. You know, no sages this time to lend their power to me, just your…uh, skill, if that's what you call it…against mine"

"I don't need the Goddesses to favour me to win, however I do accept your challenge, it'll just add a touch more pleasure to my triumph to see you die at my hand."

Stepping back, Ganondorf grabbed his broadsword from the scabbard on the wall and turned to Link, letting him see the size of the weapon, trying to evoke just a touch more fear.

Ganondorf, the Gerudo King and sole male Gerudo of the century, knew how skilled Link was. He had taken him on twice before, once in human form and once as a giant, porcine monster. Link had defeated him with ease with Ganondorf in his human form, but had had difficulty with the monster, ending up with a broken arm and gouges across his chest and face, an inch thick each. However, he had survived. But Link hadn't seen Ganondorf's skill with the sword yet. Last time he had used magic and punches, this time, things would be different.

Smiling to himself, Ganondorf twirled the large broadsword expertly, in his hand. Link didn't bother with such cocky displays and merely pulled the Master Sword out of its scabbard, letting it settle into his hand before he took the shield from his back. Rolling his shoulders and cracking his neck, Link fell into his battle poise, legs bent, arms held tensely and close to his body.

Sheik, who was kneeling by Nabooru, looked up then helped the Gerudo woman into a sitting position so she could watch the battle. Standing, he brought his own weapons out and readied them just in case Link needed help.

Taking in a deep breath, Link blanked everything out of his mind, except the presence of Ganondorf. Watching Ganondorf like an eagle, Link began to pace from side to side.

Ganondorf in turn lunged at Link, his sword held diagonally over his shoulder to take a swipe at Link. Link jumped back to avoid the blow and responded by thrusting his sword towards Ganondorf. The attack hit, sinking into Ganondorf's outstretched, muscly right arm.

Roaring Ganondorf drew back, unable to believe he had been injured by Link's first attack. Jumping back to the other side of the room, where he had come in, he summoned a large ball of sparking purple energy, throwing it at Link.

Link raised his sword into a vertical position, letting the blade reflect the attack before dodging out of the way of the second ball of energy, rushing forwards and then doing a backflip to avoid another. Landing on the floor, he made a meandering run towards Ganondorf, confusing the slower man as to which direction he was going to end up attacking from. Jumping when he came within a couple of feet of the large Gerudo he sent the sword down in front of him, trying to almost plant it into Ganondorf. Realising where Link was just in time, Ganondorf swung his own sword up letting the two weapons clash together, wincing at the high shrieking sound as metal scraped down metal

Link seemed not to notice and propelled himself away from Ganondorf, kicking off from his chest and landing a few feet away and waited for Ganondorf's next attack.

Ganondorf backed up, settling back into position and dashing towards Link, pulling his sword to lie horizontally against his chest. As he approached Link he didn't slow or pull the weapon up, just continued on his path towards Link.

The Hylian watched puzzled at Ganondorf, before realising that the large Gerudo planned to use his own mass to crush the Hylian against the wall. Moving to his right, Link was surprised when a sword shot out in front if his chest, blocking his path. He stopped skidding into it and then felt it being dragged backwards, pushing Link back towards Ganondorf, finally it flicked Link up into the air with a tremendous show of strength.

Link grunted and wheezed as he landed on the floor, hard, air being forced out of his lungs, winding him, leaving him gasping for more air. Ganondorf smirked at the sight of Link splayed out on the floor, gasping for breath and walked over to him slowly, letting Link hear the heavy thuds of his footsteps, letting him work himself up into a panic when he realised he couldn't get away.

He reached Link, looking down at him, smiling at the pathetic look on his face as he started to rise from the floor. Ganondorf raised his foot, stomping down on Link's chest, forcing him back down onto the floor again. With his foot firmly planted on Link's chest, stopping the Hylian from moving away, he raised the broadsword and prepared to plunge it into Link's body. True, he would've liked the chance to hurt Link and torture him, to watch him break down and beg his master for mercy, like he should do. To watch him crack and break as he watched him rape his precious girlfriend and bitch-princess, Zelda. But he was killing Link now, that was all that mattered, that he was killing the one that had foiled his plans before. Hyrule was about to fall to him.

As his sword reached the highest point of its journey, as it was about to start moving back down towards Link, something moved in between them and thrust something thin and sharp through his armour into his stomach. A thin Sheikah needle blade stuck out of his armour and Ganondorf looked up to see the owner, the Sheikah standing there calmly, holding eight more needles, two between each finger of its clenched left hand.

Enraged he swung the weapon to the side and then back towards the boy, just as he flung his hand out and released the needles, sending them into his torso. Moving to the side, he tried to escape the path of the sword, but he was too slow. The flat of the sword slammed into the blonde young Sheikah's side sending him flying across the room to land in a crumpled heap by Nabooru.

He grinned in a gloating way at the unmoving body and then stopped and stared as it began to glow.

Link struggled under Ganon's foot and finally managed to stand up and get away from him, seeing the glowing from the corner of the room he stared at where it was coming from.

"Oh, goddesses, no, please…" Link whispered

The unconscious Sheik was changing, his shoulders narrowing, hips growing wider, clothes changing into a light dress, adorned with gold.

The light faded and Zelda lay by Nabooru, unconscious, blood trickling from her head and mouth.

"ZELDA!" the cry tore itself from Link's throat before he could stop it as he stared at the body of his girlfriend.

Ganon threw back his head and laughed, enjoying Link's despair, his pain at seeing the princess hurt. He turned to Link, smiling at him maliciously before laughing again, mocking the Hylian to his face.

Liam blocked the heavy blow with his shield and sank down further than before, and felt his knees start to give way. Stumbling he regained his balance, only to be knocked back again by the Gerudo woman's swift attacks.

He was struggling to even block the blows now, half blinded by her previous attack and blood was still flowing freely down his face, running down his cheek like a twisted paint. She grinned at him humourlessly, before stepping back and crouching down, twisting her arms around her body, before jumping in a spinning attack, slicing his face, barely missing his neck and throat. She frowned that she hadn't killed him but seemed content to watch him lie in the mud as he tried to recover from the attack, to pull himself up.

She knelt down beside him and whispered

"You know, I don't usually torture people like this, but after all those Gerudos I saw you killing, I think you deserve this…. You definitely do spend too much time around Link, you've even picked up his killing habits, too many lives, disappearing too quickly because of him, and you."

He didn't hear most of what she said, her voice drowned out by the sounds of the battle around him just what she said about Link and killing. She seemed to about to say something more when she was distracted by something. She turned around to face a young knight…the young knight that Liam had been talking to earlier…he was alive.

Liam felt himself become suddenly relieved and turned his head to watch the woman who had tortured him fall to the floor, before he lost consciousness.

Raphael panted heavily as he made his way along the darkened corridor, torches flickering on either side of him. Maxi was losing his battle to stay awake and his body was getting heavier. He may have been light for his size, light in general, but after carting him around Raphael was tiring.

"ZELDA!"

Maxi's head jerked up at the sound of Link's desperate, muffled cry that came from behind the dark door ahead. He looked up at Raphael and pushed himself away.

"Go and see what's wrong, I'll catch up with you in a second."

Raphael studied him for a second before nodding and running up the corridor, pushing the ebony doors open.

Unable to see what was going on, Maxi straightened up and found the energy to run to the room. When he got there he realised the cause for Link's outcry.

Princess Zelda, who they all thought was safe in the castle, was lying in a corner next to a beaten Gerudo woman. Out of the corner of his eye, Maxi saw Raphael turn to look at Link then rush over to the women, crouching beside them to assess their injuries.

"Great, we have an audience."

Maxi edged into the room and looked at the owner of the voice. As he did Ganondorf grinned at him, looking him over, taking in the sight of his injuries and deciding he wasn't a threat, turned back to Link

Link glanced away from Zelda's body as the door opened and Raphael walked in, shortly followed by Maxi, and walked over to assess her. Turning his attention back to Ganondorf, Link was determined to kill him.

Settling into a stance again, Link charged at Ganon, attacking him so quickly that the Gerudo didn't have enough time to register where Link was before he was hit over and over, tears appearing in his leather armour. Unable to pinpoint Link, Ganondorf lashed out randomly and managed to hit the boy, sending him skittering him backwards and onto the bed. He crawled off it quickly, looking totally disgusted as he had just realised it was soaked in bodily fluids, blood and sweat, among other things.

Calling up his magic again, Ganondorf raised his hand, summoning dark spirits and throwing them at Link. The attacks hit Link's face and chest, causing him to cry out in pain, and when he looked up his face and neck looked to be burnt.

Glaring, Link summoned his strength offering a silent prayer to the gods. Before rushing at Ganon again sword raised high. The blade sliced cleanly through Ganondorf's shoulder and Link twisted it, trying to cause him pain, a sudden slight bloodlust taking over the young man before Ganon managed to raise his left leg and kick Link away, causing him to lose his sudden dark desire. Scrabbling on all fours, Link managed to right himself and push himself up from the floor.

Charging again at Ganon, Link locked swords with him for a moment, but this was a test of sheer brute strength, which Ganondorf happened to have more of. Forcing down on Link's sword he managed to shove him up and away from himself, leaving him on the floor, once more.

Ganondorf stood back, taking a breather and stretched his hand out to taunt and beckon Link. Link started slightly, his mouth falling further open as he struggled to get more air into his lungs.

Swinging his sword up round to one side of his head, Ganondorf trudged towards Link before breaking into a run. Link responded by throwing his shield back behind him and running towards Ganon to intercept him. Both hands on the Master Sword Link clashed swords with Ganon, white light sparking as good met evil.

Deciding to finish the battle once and for all, Link backed up and took a running leap towards Ganon.

Yunsung and Siegfried ran behind Sheik, hearing the clashes of swords behind closed doors. The doors gave way to a brilliant flash of white when they crashed into them and it faded just quickly enough to witness Link bury the Master Sword into Ganondorf's skull, splitting it perfectly in half.

Link dropped to the floor and backed up, watching Ganon's body topple over. Sheik had reached the room just in time to call the sages to banish Ganondorf's spirit temporarily, until Zelda awoke and could finish the process. Walking to the dead body, he pulled the Master Sword out and wiped it on Ganondorf's cloak and sheathing it before glancing up at Siegfried and Yunsung.

Head down, he walked to Nabooru, Zelda and Raphael. Kneeling down beside them he looked to Raphael who shrugged and shook his head. Gathering her body into his arms, Link began to sob into her neck, begging her to come back. Begging the Goddesses to return her to him


	14. Tyrant

A.N: Alright, one more chapter after this and then an epilogue. And then, dare I say it, the end. Once again, a big thank you to Rosie for checking this for me and to Jen for getting my amount of reviews higher than Rosie's.

Chapter 14: Tyrant

Link wasn't aware how long he sat with Zelda cradled in his arms, but he guessed it was a while because the others had started to get restless.

Eventually, he felt a hand on his shoulder and felt Sheik kneeling down beside him.

"Link," he whispered "We have to get out of here and stop the armies. We have to get Zelda back to the castle."

Sniffing and trying to regain his composure, Link stood up and nodded at Sheik, agreeing with him. Looking over everyone in the room, seeing them so wounded and tired, he knew it was his responsibility to get them safely back to the castle to be treated, now that their jobs were done.

"Sheik, I want you to bring Nabooru back to the castle with us. Do you think you can carry her out?"

Sheik nodded and walked over to Nabooru, picking her up and standing by the doors with her in his arms.

"Yunsung, since you seem to be ok now, apart from that wound in your shoulder, so you think you can help Maxi, and Raphael, you take Siegfried?"

The men nodded and swapped around, lifting the other injured men up and resting their weight on their own bodies.

Nodding and smiling slightly over the fact that they were finally going home, Link gathered up his sword, shield and Zelda, walking to the door. He was about to push it open when something interrupted.

A deep, low incredibly loud roar echoed up from where Ganondorf had come through. The warriors turned staring at the dark passage, then turning back to look at each other.

"I heard that before," Raphael commented "It was how I knew where to come to find you."

"Yeah, well, judging from that growl, I think it would be a wise idea to get away from whatever caused it, right now."

"I think that would be best," Nabooru spoke up

"Do you know what it is Nabooru?" Yunsung asked, shifting Maxi slightly.

"Yes…and no. All I know is that it's some sort of really mutated monster thing that was originally human. Ganondorf kept it down there and tortured it, making it even angrier than it was when it arrived. Which is a bad thing to do."

"Why?"

"Because it's a conscienceless killing machine and irritating it further only increased its desire to kill."

"Well, I for one want to get out of here even more, if it's all the same to you. Because if we don't, I have the feeling that we're going to be torn limb from limb," Maxi's voice came out weak and hoarse.

"I agree," Raphael commented

"Let's go then," Link said taking charge once more.

Moving Zelda to rest on his left arm, he pulled the door open when a loud screech of metal being ripped in half echoed up from downstairs.

"Siegfried, d'you think you're ok to stand on your own?" Link inquired. At the German's nod he walked to Yunsung.

"Can you hold her for me?"

"Uh…ok…but what are you going to do?"

Passing Zelda over to Yunsung, Link replied

"Go and see what's down there. You lot go ahead and start without me, I'll be as quick as possible."

Sheik nodded to Link and turned away, walking out the door and down the previous corridor, back to the rest of the fortress.

Link took a hold of one of the torches in the corridor once the rest of the group had gone past, and stepping gingerly over Ganon's body, walked down the stairs.

The growl had gotten louder this time and Leon was starting to realize what it was that was down there. He just hoped none of the group were, otherwise they would be dead in seconds. Unfortunately, judging from the large purple body and footsteps in its blood, they were.

He walked out of the training room, following the bloody footsteps to a dark, twisting flight of stairs. He could see two torches at the base and could hear footsteps echoing from the corridor. Waiting for a few minutes he was greeted by the sight of Sheik walking up the stairs, carrying a beaten Gerudo woman in his arms.

"You lot Ok?" he asked as soon as Sheik was at the top of the stairs.

"No…a few of us, Maxi especially, have got extensive injuries. Zelda was posing as me and has been knocked unconscious, as for Link, he went to check out what was making those growls."

At the last piece of information, Leon's head jerked up from watching the others meander up the steps.

"Oh, God. Please tell me you're joking."

Sheik shook his head "No. Link even gave Zelda to Yunsung, he said he'd catch us up in a minute."

"IDIOT! He's gonna be killed if that thing notices him."

With that said, Leon dashed down the stairs past Siegfried, Maxi and Raphael who had just reached the mid-point. Looking at his retreating figure they glanced at the weapon on his back, and then each other.

"Does he need something that big?" Raphael asked, not really directing it at anyone

"Does Siegfried need a sword that big?" Maxi answered

"It was a rhetorical question."

Link stepped onto the floor from the last rung of the ladder and looked around, squinting into the darkness, raising the torch over his head. A low rumbling growl sounded throughout the dungeon and Link honed in on it, his body tensing as he stepped forwards. Reaching the cell where the thing was contained, he stepped back, intimidated by merely the size of the creature.

The creature looked up at the sound of Link's footsteps and rose from the corner where it was curled up and growled at him. Link looked at the creature just enough to see the light of the torch reflecting of its bare teeth, before he turned and ran.

The creature sensing Link's sudden panic charged at the metal bars, roaring and growling as it did, its massive body making the metal buckle. Link was about to climb the ladder when someone jumped down and landed behind him.

"Leon?"

"Get out of here, man, I hope those bars will hold for a couple of minutes longer."

Link turned and started up the ladder the creature's roars getting louder, mixing with the sound of screeching metal. As he was just reaching the top a sharp loud 'ping' alerted him to the fact that the bars had broken and Leon was scurrying up behind him.

"Keep going Link!"

Running for the ebony doors as he was instructed he burst through them and stopped just long enough to see Leon clamber up behind the ladder and run for him.

"Go!" he shouted, giving Link a rough shove towards the stairs at the end of the corridor

"What is that thing?" he panted as Leon ran along beside him

"Tyrant."

A sudden sound of stone being broken told them that the 'tyrant' was chasing them

"Won't Ganon's body distract it?"

"No…Tyrants are more interested in killing live prey and then eating it rather than scavenging. Judging from its roars, it just wants to kill right now…full stop." Leon finished as they dashed up the stairs to meet the startled faces of the other warriors

"Follow me, and run," Link ordered, dashing through the empty corridors, Leon staying to take up the rear. Following Link, the group ran full speed through the fortress, the sound of the creature's heavy footsteps spurring them on

"Why are we running?" Yunsung shouted

"Because we're going to die if we don't."

"And how are we going to die?"

"If you don't shut up you'll see."

Link skidded around a corner, crunching bugs underfoot and weaving around crates before turning another corner.

Passing the balcony on which Necrid and Raphael had fought on, the group kept sprinting, past Cervantes's body and the trail of black blood, past the room with Charade's remains they eventually dashed into the open air, slowing and breathing sighs of relief, collapsing onto the floor in exhaustion. The only person left standing was Leon, who was glancing warily at the door, breathing heavily.

"Sheik, Link, get everyone on a horse, we have to leave, now!"

"Give us a minute, Leon," Yunsung managed to gasp out in between breaths.

Turning an icy glare on Yunsung for a moment, he looked at the Hyrulian men who were staring at him like he'd lost his mind.

"Now," he repeated, glaring at the men.

"Why are you so desperate?"

"That Tyrant is still following us, it won't stop until one of us kills it."

"Tyrant…what's a tyrant?"

Yunsung was not answered immediately by Leon, or any of the group, but by the sudden explosion of black stone that originated from the fortress. Following the explosion, a roar erupted from the creature as it stepped through the dust and rubble, towards the downed group.

"That," Leon answered

The group turned to stare at the monstrosity as it stomped its way over the rubble.

The Tyrant was massive, easily eight foot or more, its grey and white body rippling with enhanced unnatural muscle. Its left hand was normal, if not slightly large while the entire right arm was disproportionately long and bulky; its hand ending in foot long curved metal claws. White lines, surgical scars, zigzagged seemingly randomly across its pale naked body. It had presumably been human once, whether male or female, the group couldn't tell, its sexual organs cut away, along with its lips, so it constantly bared its teeth in a mocking perpetual grin. Its heart was a bloody tumour on the outside of its chest.

Before the group could even begin to react, there was a small explosion of red next to its heart, and they turned to see Leon standing a distance away, a small gun clutched in his right hand, his left supporting his wrist.

"Leon?" Link asked carefully "Are you s…" Link didn't finish his sentence, because the Tyrant rushed at him, screaming in bloodlust as it did, its right arm shooting out swiping at Link. Link ducked, but the attack hit Sheik, who had been sitting next to him, and sent him flying into the walls of the fortress, a fountain of blood following him, from its claws slicing into his side. The rest of the group stood shakily, looking at the crumpled figure of Sheik, lying next to the complex blood flowing from his ripped side.

"Link," Leon called, quietly "You can't fight this thing, leave it to me, get over to Sheik and stop him from bleeding to death. Run, I'll cover you."

Link hesitated, looking at the creature, his courage seeming to fail for once. Glancing at Sheik he regained his nerve and nodded, dashing across the sand to the collapsed figure.

The Tyrant roared and ran for him immediately, and Leon began shooting it, trying to distract it with the tiny shots from the handgun, he daren't use something bigger like the shotgun or rocket launcher with Link so close to it. The tactic worked and the creature turned towards Leon.

"Raphael! Grab Maxi and run to Link and Sheik," Leon shouted, taking aim at the Tyrant hoping it didn't notice the humans that had started to get up behind it. Swapping to the Desert Eagle while Raphael and Maxi ran, he hoped that his actions would keep it distracted. It did and Leon took aim with the more powerful weapon, targeting its eye in an attempt to blind it. The Tyrant took the shot directly into the right eye, partially blinding it. Spinning round in pain, the creature dropped roaring while Leon desperately motioned for Siegfried and Yunsung to grab Zelda and Nabooru and run to the others.

The men grabbed the two women and ran, but the Tyrant was recovering, and it had noticed the humans running for the others. Growling it leapt to its feet and charged for them, while Leon started firing at it in attempt to refocus its attention again. It wasn't working, the monster continued running for them, ignoring the bullets that were being buried into its back.

Noticing that the Tyrant was running towards them, Siegfried all but threw Nabooru towards Link, who caught her and laid her on the floor next to Sheik. Withdrawing his sword, Siegfried held it above his head and started to spin it over his head, powering it around with momentum.

Leon stared at Siegfried as he fumbled to find more ammo for the DE, hoping that he wasn't dumb enough to try and take it on. Siegfried was tough, but he wasn't as tough as a Tyrant. Giving up on the Magnum, Leon dropped it grabbing the shotgun and taking aim.

Siegfried watched as Leon fumbled with his weapon, while the Tyrant continued to advance upon him.

"_Damnit! Why isn't he shooting it?"_

In desperation to keep the creature away from himself and the others, Siegfried used all of his strength to throw the spinning weapon at it, before running for the others. The sword slammed into the Tyrant knocking it backwards as the sword embedded itself in the monsters shoulder.

The creature threw back its head and screamed as the sword slid easily into its toughened flesh, dropping onto all the fours the creature dislodged itstanding to its feet again, blood pouring from the wound; it turned to see Siegfried kneel down next to the others.

Leon shot at the Tyrant as it trudged heavily towards Link and the rest of the group, the shot going wide and chipping the black stone. The monstrosity that was the Tyrant broke into a run at the sound of the shot being taken and dashed for the human's hiding place. Smashing through the crates that surrounded them, it raised a claw and swiped at Link.

Raising his shield as fast as he could, Link tried to block the creatures attack, his breath coming in sharp, painful gasps. He cried out when its claws struck the shield, shearing through it like paper, the sheer force of the attack sending the shield crashing into his chest, sharp talons scoring marks and trails into his skin, going deep enough to engrave into the bone of Link's ribs.

An explosion behind the Tyrant distracted it and Link looked up to see Leon holding something small and green in his hand. Glaring at the Tyrant, the American pulled the pin, weakly throwing the grenade so it didn't get too close to the humans. The Tyrant turned and sprinted for Leon, who was holding another grenade. He stood completely still until the creature was almost on him, before pulling the pin and dropping the small explosive and throwing himself into a forward roll, before righting himself and turning to see the Tyrant become enveloped in a black and orange cloud.

"WAHOO!"

Leon turned to see Yunsung staring at the thick black smoke, a look of total awe on his face, his jaw almost completely slack, but his mouth turned into a wide grin. He looked to Leon before stating;

"You have GOT to let me have a go with one of those," Leon rolled his eyes, unloading the rocket launcher from his back and hoisting it over his shoulder.

"Don't go towards it yet, the Tyrants are strong, it easily could have survived that."

"And what about that thing on your shoulder, will it survive a blast from that?" he heard Maxi croak, his condition seeming to have improved slightly

Leon chuckled "Maxi, there is no way in hell that a living creature could survive a blast from a rocket launcher. The GODS themselves couldn't survive a blast from this baby," he smiled lightly at the pirate, before turning his attention back to where the Tyrant was. It was lying on the floor at the opposite end of the fortress grounds. And it was getting up.

Snorting in annoyance, Leon hefted the launcher into the right position, aimed and fired, being blasted backwards by the force of the weapon.

A tremendous KABOOMM! Sounded and then…silence.

He smiled to himself then at the others, seeing them climb shakily to their feet. Walking towards the few smoking remains of the creature, he felt sorry for it, especially when he saw what was branded into the side of what was left of one of the creature's claws.

A small, octagonal shape was engraved on the side of the knife like appendage. It was split into eight segments, starting from each of the corner points and meeting in the middle, and four of the segments had been scraped away slightly in alternating order. There was a slight red tint on these and the whole logo looked like…and open umbrella.

He frowned at the logo and picked up the blade, carrying it with him as he walked back to the others.

"You want a trophy for killing it?" Link asked, raising an eyebrow as he slipped onto Epona, glancing at the claw.

Leon shook his head, showing him the engraving and smiled.

"An umbrella?"

"_The_ umbrella. The logo of the Umbrella Corporation,"

"You hate them, why is that good?"

"Because it means there might be a gate or portal between my world and yours…"

"And you would be able to get back to Claire."

Leon nodded, smiling broadly and then shuffled to his own horse while everyone else mounted their own, carrying the wounded with them.

As they filed out of the Gerudo Valley, Leon hung back to gaze at the few remaining parts of the Tyrant before moving off again, and saw Yunsung watching him.

"Something wrong?" Leon asked

"I was just wondering how people come up with weapons like yours…that and who this _Umbrella _lot is."

"Well…in the future, your world will have weapons like this…but you won't be around to see them, so count yourself lucky you saw that display of pure power…although, I have to admit, I myself am quite intrigued by swordplay" he flashed a smile at Yunsung, and watched Link, holding Zelda in his arms and thought of his own wife and daughter.

"And Umbrella?"

"The Umbrella Corporation is a pharmaceutical company…on the surface. That is, they create things like medicines, skin creams and general health care products, on their legal side anyway. They are the worlds leaders in that trade and nine out of ten people in America have Umbrella products in their house."

"So what's the problem?"

"That's their legal side of work, which I'm not adverse to. It's white Umbrella."

"White Umbrella?"

"A division of the company that specializes in the illegal side of Umbrella. The side that tries to play god and does genetic and viral research."

"Meaning?" this came from Siegfried, who was hanging back, with Maxi and Raphael to listen to the conversation

"They create viruses, biologically hazardous weapons or bio-weapons for short. It's this viral weaponry that affected that creature you saw back there. That's what turned it into a Tyrant."

"So these people are creating viruses and turning humans into killing machines with them?"

"Yes. And I was affected directly by this, as were a lot of my friends in my world. You see, there was a viral spill, and something called the T-Virus, leaked out. Now, the T-Virus isn't really designed for human use. And only one in about ten million people, who get infected with the virus, will turn into a Tyrant. The rest turn into walking, cannibal corpses; zombies. And this escaped into Raccoon city, turning the thousands of people who lived there, into zombies."

"And you were there? You had to fight through them all and now you're determined to bring the company down, to stop them experimenting immorally, and to get back at them for all the lives lost."

"Exactly. Me and the rest of my former group."

Leon looked up as they entered onto Hyrule field and saw Link gallop up the hill ahead, raising Epona up on her hind legs.

"C'mon, we better be there to back Link up," Leon stated, kicking Thara into a run and riding up the hill.

Link turned his head to look at the rest of the group as they drew up beside him

"Glad you could make it."

Turning to the Gerudo and Hylian armies, he announced;

"Ladies and Gentlemen. I implore you to stop fighting. Ganondorf Dragmire is dead!"

Link's statement was met with silence…and then a roar of cheering from the Hylians rushed up to greet him.

The Gerudo women gathered their weapons, turned around and walked up to Link.

"Girls, return to base without a fuss, please," Nabooru commanded.

The women looked at their queen, nodded and turned away; returning to the valley quietly and without fuss, like they didn't care Ganondorf was dead.

Smiling at the group, Link nudged Epona and she began to canter down the hill towards the Hylian men and they parted readily, letting Link and the warriors pass over the lowered drawbridge, to return to the castle and rest.

They had won the war.

If anybody has any ideas about what I should do for my next story, I would be very glad of suggestions seeing as I can't think of anything at the moment.

As always, review please!


	15. C'est la vie

Disclaimer: 15th Chapter and I still don't own Zelda, Soul Calibur or Resident Evil...well, I do own the games but the the rights and...oh never mind.

A.N.: I apologise for the retarded disclaimer...I've been playing too much Resi 4 lately.

Chapter 15: C'est la vie

Link looked around the small room and sighed. The second he had entered the castle, Impa had ran up to him and without a word, just a small nod and nervous smile, lifted Zelda out of his arms and had run down to the infirmary with her. He and Leon had led the horses back to the stables to be taken care of while Raphael and the others followed Impa.

So that's where he sat now, the infirmary, in one of the doctors' offices, waiting to be checked out and told how everyone else was.

Zelda, Nabooru and Maxi had been the first people to be seen to, apparently. There were four doctors in the infirmary currently, these were Hyrule's top physicians the King's doctors, three of them were attending to the aforementioned, the fourth, Link didn't know.

He looked up as the door opened, and the young doctor, who had attended to Amy a few days ago, walked in. He gave Link a half smile, before walking over to him.

"How is everyone?" Link asked, hesitantly

The young doctor looked up at Link and sighed

"Link I need to attend to you before I answer anything…you'll probably run away to your friends, just to check they're OK."

"You know me too well…and therefore, you know that I'll run away if you don't tell me at least one thing." Link's smile that had crossed his face at the beginning of his statement disappeared with that

Sighing again, the doctor shook his head

"Very well…The Princess has been checked over and put to bed in her own chambers; she'll be there for at least a few days. She may be unconscious for that time, but she has a strong will, and will probably wake up sooner. The damage to her head wasn't serious and though she might have slight concussion and dizziness for a few days, she'll recover within two weeks."

Link sighed in relief and nodded at the doctor, thanking him for that piece of information.

"Now…let me check you over."

Link groaned but did as he was asked, rolling his eyes as the doctor asked a multitude of questions and poking and prodding what seemed to be every bruise.

"OK!" Link exclaimed after a few more minutes prodding "I'll survive, but not if you keep poking me, good goddesses man."

The doctor straightened and glared at him.

"Well…your injuries aren't extensive or serious. You've got a couple of cracked ribs, which'll be sore for a while, your back too as it's covered with bruises. Your neck seems to be burnt and bleeding slightly, but they're cause for little concern. I'll clean them for you but there's nothing more I can do…Just try to rest and not worry for the next couple of days, you'll be tired I'm sure."

Link nodded and pulled his tunic back on, when a sudden thought hit him…

"_Liam! Where is he, he would've usually come in by now, asking about everything"_

"What about everyone else?" Link asked

"Nabooru will be here for a while…on bed rest, and only attended to by women. We've decided that she doesn't need to be stressed out anymore by having unfamiliar men around. You will be the only male allowed in to see her, as she's in her own, private room. Her condition will improve slowly, she's been beaten badly, but she's a Gerudo woman so she's a fighter. She'll be allowed to go home in about three to four weeks."

Link nodded. "The other worlders?"

"Well…three of them are still being seen to. There was a lot of shouting coming from one of the exam rooms…something about being young and able to recover quickly."

"Ah, that would be Yunsung." Link chuckled

"Uh-huh. Anyway, the only one I know about for now is the black-haired one."

Link swallowed, suddenly nervous. He had seen the extent of Maxi's injuries, he had received the most and the worst. They had only known each other for a few days, but Link already knew that Maxi was a life-long friend to him. The pirate was friendly, out-going, funny and loyal, he was the kind of person that was hard to find.

"Mmm, you should look worried." the doctor commented, and Link's eyes shot up from the floor to meet the other mans.

"How bad is it?"

"Serious. He's lost a lot of blood, has a couple of broken ribs and a lot of bruises. I'm surprised that he's survived this long, he's in a really bad way, and if those wounds get infected, he's as good as dead. He'll need to stay here for while, the blood loss means he's weakened severely. If he'd had anymore injuries, his body probably wouldn't be able to heal them all…as it is, he'll need at least a month to heal. Though he won't be on bed rest for all of that time. He's got a fair chance of survival, but he's easily the worst off." The doctor finished looking sternly at Link

"He's out there," the physician flinched his head towards the room with the beds "You can go and see him, but don't make him talk too much if he's awake." Link nodded in response, and suddenly felt guilty, he shouldn't have brought Maxi…he was too nice a guy to be in that kind of condition.

"What…what about…Liam…have you heard anything about him?" Link found it hard to ask, as if he knew something was wrong and looked up at the doctor, desperate to see him smiling at him in a joking manner, as if to say 'Of course he's alright'.

What he saw was the opposite.

"He's…stable." the doctor answered, looking away

"What do you mean by just, stable…what's happened?"

The doctor looked him over, trying to decide how to phrase his answer or whether he should just tell Link to go and see him.

Giving in, the doctor replied,

"Overall, he's fine, a few bruises and cuts, some that may leave him with scars. There's a deep one on his right thigh that's been sewn closed. One of his waist has been bleeding continuously and has had to have mud cleaned out of it, but that should heal fine too, with a scar left behind of course…but," the doctor trailed off

"But?"

"Well, it's not a life threatening injury, but if the worst has happened, he won't be working in the army anymore."

"What is it?"

"He was fighting a Gerudo woman, and she got the better of him. She's the one who caused the wound on his thigh and waist. He lost a lot of blood from the one on his waist and it weakened him. She kept on attacking him, and she hit him in the face."

"So?"

"The attack hit at the centre of his hairline and has travelled over his left eye and half-way down him cheek. She was quite brutal as well…the sword has hit the bone of his forehead and cheek, it's also diagonally slashed his eyelid in half…if the attack was heavy on his eyeball, he'll be permanently blind in that eye"

"Do you know for sure how bad it is yet?"

"No…but he's unable to open his eye, so until that happens we've got no way of telling…there is a very high chance that he has been blinded though."

Link looked down at the floor, hoping that Liam would still have his eyesight

"Last time I checked, he was still awake…you should go and see him, meet up with your friends and go to bed…you look awful, you could do with some rest."

Link nodded and slid off the examination table and walked out of the room.

Walking down the narrow corridor, almost choking on the stench of sanitizers, he was greeted with the sight if Siegfried leaning against the wall, next to one of the doctors' offices.

"Hey Siegfried," he sighed in greeting, eyes never leaving the floor.

"Hi Link…what's wrong?" the other blonde looked him over, head cocked to the side

"Oh…uh, not much, just a combination of a few small things."

"Care to share them?"

"Well, mainly I'm just tired and worried…could be the after effects of battle too, though."

"Worried?...Over what? Everyone else?"

"Yeah…Maxi mainly and Liam."

"Hmm…I could understand Maxi, he was beaten pretty badly, but I'm sure he'll recover…damn pirate is always too sprightly. But what's wrong with Liam?"

"He could be blind in one eye."

Siegfried looked at the downhearted Hylian and down the corridor, to where the beds were.

"Anyway…where's everyone else?" Link looked up at Siegfried

"Ah…Raphael has gone to Amy…again, Maxi is in bed, struggling to stay awake, last time I saw…and Yunsung is still in there" he motioned to the door on his right. "The doctor who saw to me disappeared into there and the shouting from Yunsung suddenly stopped, so I'm waiting to see what's happened." He looked at Link and smiled gently; trying to comfort the young man…something he wasn't sure where it came from.

"_Perhaps I've regained more of my humanity than I thought…Anyway, could be that I've found a friend"_

"So, I take it that since the doctors haven't strapped you down to a bed yet, that you're OK?" Link asked, grinning at the other man, trying to make light of the situation.

"What…you think that a cut and some bruises are going to stop the great Siegfried Schtauffen?"

"Nah…I guess not."

"Glad to hear it. Anyway, you're OK then?"

"Yeah, some bruises…not much. You wanna go get something to eat or…"

Link was cut off mid sentence by the door to the office opened, and a very disgruntled looking Yunsung stepped out, bandages wrapped around his arm and shoulder.

Link chuckled lightly at the expression on the Koreans face and looked at Siegfried.

"Stop it you freak…I don't like having to 'rest for the next couple of days' and 'come down to see me again in two days' so I can have my bandages changed."

At that point, a male doctor walked out of the office, eyed Yunsung for a moment and walked away, muttering something about youths.

Yunsung scowled at the retreating figure and turned to Link.

"You gonna go and see everyone else?"

"I was about to" Link answered, pushing himself away from the wall and walked into the room with the beds.

On the left side of the room, Raphael sat on a bed, next to Amy and speaking to her quietly, and looking slightly uncomfortable. When Link walked in he looked up and nodded to the little group before turning back to Amy.

Link smiled at the interaction between Raphael and his daughter. Raphael had completely cold in the last couple of days, so it was good to Link to see him acting so warmly and gently to someone.

Turning to his right he saw Maxi lying in one of the beds, the sheets pulled up to his chest. He was lying on his side, but didn't appear to be asleep.

Walking around the bed to face Maxi's front side, he was greeted with a very groggy sounding

"Alright Link?"

"Uh, I guess, anyway, how are you feeling now?"

"Tired, weak and in pain, how else?"

Link chuckled in answer "No different."

Maxi groaned and looked over at Yunsung and Siegfried. "Hmph, well, at least someone's intact." Turning back to Link he inquired "Have you seen Liam yet?"

The smile on Link's face faded and he shook his head.

"I think you should, he's over there," Maxi motioned to a bed further up the room "You've heard about his…situation then?"

"Yeah…I was about to go and see him now, I'm just checking everyone's comfortable before I head back to my room."

"Good plan, one that I'll probably carry out too…just wish I wasn't down here with that damn sterile smell."

Link smiled half-heartedly "I know what you mean."

Getting off the bed he had been sitting on, Link walked up to Liam's bed.

Yunsung wandered over to the bed where Link had previously been sitting, while Siegfried settled himself on the end of Maxi's bed. Maxi glared at him for a moment, then turned back to watch Link, who was kneeling by the side of Liam's bed, watching his 'brother'.

Lowering his head, Link closed his eyes and whispered something to the sleeping figure and got up. Link walked towards the doors and opened them before turning to the rest of the entourage.

"Goodnight," he called and closed the door.

Yunsung, Maxi and Siegfried stared at the door for a few minutes after Link left, as if expecting him to come back in.

"He really is close to Liam isn't he?" Yunsung whispered

"I would've thought that was obvious from the beginning," remarked Raphael, who had wandered over to the rest of the soul warriors.

Yunsung stared at him oddly for a moment, shook his head and turned back to the others.

"You know, if it wasn't for the fact that he was seeing Zelda, I would say Link was you know…"

"Yunsung…you do realise that you have the most sick, twisted and immature mind I have ever known, don't you?" Maxi commented, and Yunsung snarled a little.

"If you'll excuse me, this conversation isn't very interesting, so I'm going to bed," Siegfried stated, standing up and stretching "Besides, who says two males can't be close friends without being gay…look at Maxi and Kilik."

Maxi looked up his eyes narrowing slightly "Charming,"

Siegfried smirked at him "Oh, and Link and Liam are almost completely identical anyway," the German finished and walked away calling a "Goodnight," behind him as he did.

Link sat on Zelda's bed, looking down at her delicate features and smiling softly at her, like a caring lover or guardian angel watching over their other half. Reaching out he stroked her hair and cheek before retracting his hand and returning to just watching her.

She was sleeping peacefully and probably would be for a few more days yet.

Thinking back to the previous battle, he realised exactly how deeply he felt about her, how he had felt so scared when she had lay still and he thought she wasn't going to come back to him. She had also been incredibly brave and strong. She had managed to paralyze Sheik and take up his role and she had fought Ganon, she had rushed forward and stabbed him. And why? To stop Ganon from hurting him, Link.

"_Some great hero I am huh? I can't even protect my princess, my girlfriend, my only love"_

Link glared at the angry thoughts and quickly turned back to Zelda.

A thin beam of light entered the warm dark room, and it widened as Sheik, Impa and the King stepped inside.

Taking this as his cue to leave, Link stood, took one last look at Zelda and walked towards the door, inclining his head to the King slightly.

As he left he heard a "Sleep well, Link" softly voiced by the King and he turned back to his room, walking down the corridor.

Link was just about to enter his room, when he felt a hand on his shoulder, and he turned to see Sheik standing behind him.

"Link" the shadow warrior whispered and Link turned back "don't berate yourself about the princess, she'll be fine in under a week I'm sure, and Ganondorf is locked away…that's all that matters. Besides, you did well this week, finding strangers and leading them to fight against Ganon and his allies"

Link nodded and smiled. "Thanks, Sheik" and entered into his room.

The door clicked shut behind Link, and he stretched and walked to the bathroom to shower. Once he was done with that he strolled back out into the bedroom and slipping under the covers he blew out the candle that sat on the nightstand. Closing his eyes, it wasn't long before Link drifted to sleep, falling to the gentle caresses of its dark depths.

Two months later

Zelda sat in the courtyard, watching the water of the small moat flow past the marble steps, a large goldfish swimming through the shimmering water. Hearing footsteps approaching, she looked up to see Link walk through the archway, followed closely by Liam.

She smiled to herself on seeing her two best friends walking towards her. She, herself, had been let out of bed about a month and a half ago, Link had never been confined to bed, and Liam was let out three weeks after the incident.

All of them were now fit and healthy and fortunately, Liam had just managed to keep his sight in his left eye, even if he was left with a rather nasty scar. His sight had been reduced drastically in that eye, but not so much as to stop him from working in the army. It did, however, mean that visitors could differentiate between the lads.

"Hey guys," she greeted

"Alright Zelda?" Link nodded towards her

"What are you doing here; I thought you were preparing the other worlders?"

"They wanted one last look around Hyrule; before they leave tonight," Liam answered, looking back at her "We wanted to know if you're coming with us."

"Don't they leave at one in the morning, so it'll be around 7 o'clock when they get back?" Zelda asked, head tilted to the side

"Well yeah, but we're leaving after dinner and we're going to spend a long while out, spend until midnight wandering around and then meet up with your Dad at the portal to give them their rewards. Me and Liam are going to take them back to their world after that," Link answered, smiling at her

"Oh, right…I don't know if I can come, father might have something for me to see to."

"Oh, plleeaasse Zel…the guys'd be heartbroken if you didn't come around with us," Link whined at her, trying to put on a 'puppy-dog' look, widening his dark blue eyes, trying to look innocent.

"Oh, alright then…are we going to call in on Nabooru?"

"Yeah, and Malon…I haven't seen her for a while."

Zelda nodded and walked away to the dining room, dinner would be being served soon.

Link smiled slightly at her retreating figure and then shivered slightly, it was early autumn and it was starting to get chilly.

"So…are you still up for the plan?" Liam asked

"Definitely," Link nodded "Although I am starting to get a little nervous already."

Liam laughed "Don't be. Everything will go smoothly, you'll see."

Link shook his head "Still the more optimistic aren't you...Come on, let's go find Maxi and the others."

It was almost dinner time and the Soul warriors were sitting in the gardens of the castle, taking in the richness and beauty of the area for the last time. It may have been early autumn, but the sun was still bright, even if the air was sharp today. The leaves had already started to turn, changing to red and orange, and the odd flash of gold here and there.

Yunsung, sitting in the corner cleared his throat and attracted the attention of the others.

"What is it now Yunsung? You know we aren't going to be here for much longer," Raphael grumbled, Amy sitting by his side and she looked up at her step-father inquisitively. He was currently teaching her English so she was still not entirely sure what was going on when he spoke in English.

"I was just thinking…do you reckon we'll ever come back here?"

"It's likely, if that portal doesn't close. I don't see why we would be stopped…after all, we did help this country," Siegfried answered, craning his head back to look at Yunsung.

"It'd be a bitch if we weren't," Maxi commented, subconsciously scratching at the scar on his stomach, left by Astaroth's axe. "Why are you asking anyway?"

"Well…I just, I, kind of, uhh…" the Korean trailed off, looking away

"Good answer," Raphael smirked

"You mean you like this place and don't want to leave?" Maxi inquired

"I suppose, this place is really beautiful, not to mention the women," Yunsung finished with a whistle to emphasize his point.

"Ah, so that's how the doctors treated you, they got that really gorgeous nurse in," Siegfried shook his head

"Hey, who knew having bandages changed could be an enjoyable experience."

Maxi chuckled at Yunsung's shallow comments. He was about to respond when Leon walked into the garden.

"Sorry to interrupt guys, but dinner's ready," he announced striding in, wearing his usual fleece, jeans and black turtle neck jumper.

"Ah, well, I suppose we better go and get it huh?"

"If you don't want to be murdered by chef, yes."

With that he turned and walked back to the castle.

Maxi shrugged and pushed himself up from the floor. Following suit, everyone else reluctantly got up and walked to the dining hall.

Dinner was filled with a noisy chatter with the Hylians telling the other where they would be going in Hyrule. The Soul warriors listened with interest, whilst eating their rather extravagant meal.

"So what order are we going in?" Yunsung asked between bites. Sheik, who was going to be accompanying the group again, looked to Link and Liam

"Well…" Link answered "I'd say that seeing Nabooru is number one on the list of things to do, so the Gerudo Valley first."

"I thought you'd be sick of that place," Leon commented, wiping his hands with a napkin

"Nah, it's really quite beautiful, looking over the desert from the outposts," Liam answered

"After that, I need to go and see Malon, so it's over to the Ranch."

"Ranch? As in horses etc.?" Yunsung asked

Liam chuckled "Yeah, we'll only be calling in for a minute, besides…I think you'd like Malon."

"Then it's onto Kakariko village and the Death Mountain summit, Lost Woods and the Forest Temple, Kokiri forest, Zora's Domain, Hyrule Field and finally Lake Hylia" Link finished, taking a drink of wine from the silver goblet in front of him.

"I thought you were going to see the Dragons again today?" Sheik spoke up

"Oh yeah, we haven't seen them for a while." Liam commented.

The group spent an hour with the Dragons, to see that Soryuju had doubled in size and started to breathe fire, which the dragons seemed to very proud of. He was now able to fly and his scales had started to glint with the inner fire that his parents seemed to have.

It was one o'clock by that time, and the warriors reluctantly left the cave. The dragons had however, perhaps sensing that the Calibur warriors were leaving, given them a small token each and for some reason, Leon was given one too. Each received a scale from one dragon.

Yunsung received his from Blaze, the red male.

Maxi, from Eragon and was, strangely enough, promised one from Soryuju when he was older. Link would bring them back there, if they ever returned.

Raphael had his from Sapphira, the blue female. Amy received one too, from Skyla, even though she wasn't allowed into the cave by the adults.

Siegfried, from Murtagh, the black male and finally Leon had his from Viridris.

Taking leave of the dragons they travelled to the Gerudo Valley and the Spirit Temple. Nabooru it seemed had recovered fully and welcomed the entire group with open arms when she found out that they had all helped Link.

"You are all friends of the Gerudos from now on. If you ever need help come here." She had told them.

They had spent another hour in the golden gyrating sands of the desert, with no hint that Ganondorf had ever been there.

Travelling to Lon Lon Ranch, they met Malon, the beautiful red haired girl, the daughter of the owner of the ranch. Yunsung, as Liam predicted, was rather taken with her and had gone so far as to tell her to come and look for him if she ever needed a husband, to which she had merely laughed and dismissed him.

Kakariko village, hometown of the Sheikah, birthplace and childhood home of Impa and Sheik. They very briefly visited the Shadow Temple, behind the graveyard, before becoming creeped out by moaning sounds and leaving.

They then visited the Dodongo's (a kind of dinosaur with only 2 legs that breathes fire) cavern, then the Goron's (a very peaceful, friendly, rock-eating race) City, and the fire temple. Standing on the edge of the Death Mountain summit, they looked over the whole of Hyrule, the red glow from the magma lighting up the scene with a sort of ethereal glow. Amazed by the beauty of the combination of gold sand in the Gerudo Valley, the silver-white of Hyrule Castle, pale blue from Zora's domain, emerald from the Kokiri forest and the combination of it all on Hyrule field, they were struck by the beauty of the land.

It was 2 hours from arriving on the Death Mountain trail and it was about 5:30pm. Link reluctantly reminded that they had other places to visit, especially since the sun was on its way down to the lower mountain range.

Moving back down into the City, they took a shortcut into the Lost Woods, travelling to the heart of the sacred forest meadow to explore the Forest Temple and then heading back to the Kokiri Forest, where Link grew up. He was greeted by some of his old friends, including Saria the forest sage.

After that, they went to the Zora's domain and fountain although Link seemed rather reluctant to go in, and with good reason; the Zora's (a race of aquatic people, half-human, and half-fish) princess, Ruto and sage of Water, was obsessed with Link. She had been ever since he had saved her when they were both ten and now, every time she saw him, she insisted that they should be wed. This did however, lead to a few sniggers from Maxi and Yunsung. It was unfortunate for Link that they ended up spending and hour and a half there, all the time getting strange looks from Ruto.

It was about 10:30 when they left the Zora's company and made their way onto Hyrule field, enjoying the fresh cold wind that whipped against them as they rode over the plains, watching their shadows moving on the ground, perfectly outlined by the moon. Spending half and hour on the plains, they finally entered Lake Hylia at 11:00.

They spent their time there watching the silver moon reflecting on the still, blue tinted pure water, a silver light seeming to emanate from the surface. They listened to Link talking about the adventures he had been on and finally came to the subject of the Soul swords and the fight against Ganon and his allies.

Leon suddenly looked at his watch and caught Link's eye and nodded to him.

"Well, guys. It looks like it's midnight…we better get going," Link stated

The Soul Calibur warriors nodded slightly, looking downhearted. Getting up they lethargically walked to the bridge and started over it.

Zelda and Link were the last one's to go. She was about to start to walk away when Link caught her hand and tugged on it slightly, keeping her back.

"What is it Link?"

"I want to talk to you, Liam'll take them back to the shore and they'll wait for us there," Link answered, watching the group of men making their way over the second bridge.

"So?" Zelda asked turning to look at him.

Staring back at her he seemed to be lost for words for a moment and he smiled at her softly before looking to the floor. Taking a minute he looked back up at her and then to the moon.

"Zelda…I…throughout my childhood, I thought I was a Kokiri, but deep down, I knew I didn't belong. When I spent 7 years locked in the temple of light, and I woke up in the future, I knew I didn't belong. And even now, wherever I go, whatever I do, I don't belong."

Zelda opened her mouth to say something, but he put his finger to her lips to stop her

"But there is one thing that belongs somewhere…and that's my heart," he took her hand and held it over his heart and she could feel it speed up beneath her touch "My heart belongs here…with yours. I don't know why or how anything happened before, but I know this is right." He knelt down on one knee and looked up at her and pulled out a small velvet box. Opening it, he looked into her eyes hopefully.

"Zelda…will you marry me?"

She stared down at him, and at the ring in the box, at a loss for words. The ring was high quality gold, engraved with delicate depictions of the goddesses and the Triforce, inscribed with ancient Hylian rites, platinum filling in the grooves of the engravings.

The stone of the ring was an emerald which faded into a sapphire, but it was one stone. Around the edges were diamonds and a rare blue rock known as a moon's tear.

She gazed at the ring for a moment, and then looked at Link, a smile across her face.

"Of course I will Link, there's no one else for me."

He beamed at her standing up slipping the ring on her finger.

"So you don't mind marrying a guy who's not a prince?"

"Link, you are my prince."

The group watched Link and Zelda from a distance and cheered when they saw Link stand up and kiss Zelda.

"I can't believe he's finally done it," Leon commented

"I can't believe she said yes," Raphael snorted. The group turned and glared at him "…Kidding" he chuckled nervously.

Link and Zelda walked back to the shore and were instantly greeted with cheers and handshakes and cries of 'congratulations'.

"You really know how to finish off our visit, don't you Link?" Maxi smiled, punching the blonde on the arm lightly.

Link chuckled, then sobered "We should get you guys home."

Slowly they mounted their horses and made their way to the portal where the king was waiting.

He smiled and nodded as they approached.

Stepping forward as they dismounted he called for the four other-world warriors to stand before him.

"Before you go, I want to thank you for what you've done for this country. We desperately needed help and you gave it and the citizens of Hyrule and I are eternally grateful for that."

He nodded to a man behind him, who walked forwards, holding something and stood by the king.

"We will be pleased to see you return at anytime and urge you to come and visit us. We will also give you help if ever you need it."

Turning around the King took four boxes from the man and called the men forwards one by one.

"Please, wait until you return to your world before you open them. Finally I present each of you with a medal, for your honour, bravery and generosity in aiding this country," the king took a couple of steps back and bowed to the warriors.

Link stepped forwards and nodded to them. It was time for them to go. Saying their goodbyes they returned to the other world.

One Chapter To Go!

**REVIEWERS PLEASE READ THIS!**

To Shadow (last person to review with idea for a story): Please can you e-mail me directly or type your e-mail address in brackets. e.g. didn't come out properely in the review. I would really like to hear more of your ideas and tak with you about them.

To Everyone Else: Thank you so much for reviewing. I hope you've enjoyed the story. The final chapter will be up next Monday...hopefully. Bye!


	16. Epilogue

A.N: FINAL CHAPTER! IT'S ALL OVER. Please Read The Authors Note at the end of the chapter!

Epilogue

When the group had returned to Germany, to leave Siegfried back at the chapel, they were met with a surprise. A group of about 10 warriors had been standing there, waiting for the return of the guardian of Soul Edge. It seemed that once Mitsurugi had seen Siegfried disappear with 'the strange elven boy', two months earlier he had realised that Soul Edge had been left unguarded; he had called the warriors together to protect it, until its guardian returned. The group had consisted of Sophitia, Xianghua, Cassandra, Talim, Ivy, Seung Mina, Taki, Mitsurugi, and Kilik.

Upon seeing Maxi, Xianghua and Kilik had run up to him and embraced him, whilst Mina had strode towards Yunsung and slapped him across the face, berating him about 'leaving the dojo' or so it seemed.

It was a full year before the Calibur warriors had returned to Hyrule, with their own friends.

Link and Zelda were married a year after Link's proposal, and the wedding was held two days after the Soul warriors returned.

Liam proposed to Malon six months after the fight against Ganondorf.

Finally, Leon, with the help of the sages, had found a way to return to his own world and was now living comfortably with Claire and their daughter Sora, with the rest of his friends and family close by. He had visited Hyrule again since returning to his home and the group had arranged a sort of annual meeting at Hyrule at which they could meet up again.

It would be a while before any of this gathering would have to fight side by side again:

Hyrule, for the most part, was at peace and its citizens lived peacefully in the countries golden days, with their Hero, Princess and Goddesses watching over them.

Siegfried continued to guard the Demonic blade of Soul Edge, but its power was depleting with every day it was not wielded and every day, Siegfried grew stronger and more independent of the sword than ever before and rumour was that it was eventually destroyed, though no-one other than Siegfried knows if that is true.

Yunsung was to marry Seung Mina, eventually anyway, and was still as irritating and childish as ever.

Raphael rebuilt his life with Amy at his side and they eventually managed to gain a solid lifestyle.

Maxi spent his time with Kilik and Xianghua, irritating them for much of that time.

Leon, after rejoining his family and friends, began to help the cause of bringing down the Umbrella Corporation, with Chris, Claire, Jill, Carlos, Rebecca and Billy. The group also managed to get rid of the incessant interfering of Albert Wesker, Chris's enemy, though no-one was ever quite sure if he was killed or if he just disappeared.

Despite the lack of wars and violence in their lives, the warriors kept close together and would be there at any given time to call on if it was needed.

The warriors formed together, not just as alliances, but friends, for all eternity.

A.N.: An absolutely massive thank you to all those who have reviewed this story and supported and encouraged me, it is immensely gratfiying to see people do like my work.

Now, depending on people's reviews for this chapter (please let there be some), I may write a sequel. I already have a plot line, it's just waiting to be typed. If I do decide to publish it one here (update, whatever) it should be up within a few months, under the Soul Calibur section. It will be entitled

'Sliver of Bliss, World of Pain'

It's up to you reviewers wether I write it or not.

Once Again A BIG THANK YOU to everyone. Especially my friends, Rosie, (who so kindly checked this for me) and Jenny (who submitted about 7 revies) and all the others. Let's give them a big hand.


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